Skylanders: the Darkest Hour
by CynderFanForever
Summary: After a battle, Cynder is found missing, and Spyro rounds up the Skylanders to help save her. Will Spyro get there in time to save her her? Will she die? Or will something much worse happen?...
1. Chapter 1: Kaos Returns

Skylanders: The Darkest Hour

Chapter I

Kaos Returns

Spyro and Cynder were by the Core of Light, Spyro watching as the clouds rolled by.

Cynder was sleeping by the Magic part of the Core, warming herself with the heat radiating out of it.

Spyro, meanwhile, stood on a pedastal, watching Cynder, the Core, and the rest of the Skylanders that played on and around the parts of the Ruins.

The reason why he was watching all three: the Core, because of what the villain, Kaos, had done to it the year before, the Skylanders because he was their leader and he cared about them all, and Cynder, only because he cared about her the most of all of the Skylanders. Another thing was that Cynder had once been one of Spyro's greatest enemies.

Three years ago, Cynder had been controlled by the most evil dragon of all: Malefor.

Spyro had confronted Cynder and Malefor in a place called Convexity and was able to return Cynder to her regular form, but accidentally letting Malefor escape during the same battle.

In the Skylands realm known as the Underworld, this was still a topic for discussion, and a very popular topic at that for discussion when others were scarce in the realm of the Underworld.

Cynder began to stir. When she was awake, she got up and stretched and yawned.

Spyro whirled around and saw that she was now awake.

"Hey, Cynder," he said. "Have a nice nap?" It was a few minutes before she could answer.

"Good," she answered, still yawning. "Though I wish it could've been longer. And I had a very strange dream."

"Yeah, and what was it?" Spyro asked.

"In the dream, I was back in Convexity, and Malefor was there, and so was Kaos, and I saw you too, but I wasn't helping you defeat them, I was on their side, and I was actually in the evil-version of myself," Cynder explained to Spyro wearily.

Before Spyro could speak again, he heard an explosion and turned around to see a plume of smoke rising from down on the beach.

"What the heck happened?" Spyro roared to Sunburn, a phoenix-dragon hybrid, who was closest to the spot on the beach.

"I don't know!" Sunburn roared back.

Suddenly, a ball of light hit Sunburn, and he fell to the ground, unconscious.

Kaos stood over Sunburn's limp body.

"I have returned, Skylanders!" Kaos declared in his loud, high-pitched voice.

Spyro was about to retort when he saw a terrible sight: an army coming to the shore below on a large battleship.

"Oh no!" whispered Cynder, fear in her eyes.

"Come on!" Spyro said to Cynder, He took off from the ground and went to the beach below.

The rest of the Skylanders were already there.

"Captains, get ready!" Spyro commanded.

There were eight elements: Magic, Undead, Fire, Earth, Tech, Water, Air, and Life. The captains of those elements were Spyro (Magic, and all Skylanders), Cynder (Undead), Sunburn (Fire), Bash (Earth), Trigger Happy (Tech), Gill Grunt (Water), Sonic Boom (Air) and Stealth Elf (Life).

As the captains took their places, Cynder found herself next to Spyro.

Kaos ran to the beach and took his place in front of the minions starting to arrive onto the sandy beach.

"Skylanders, I will hereby defeat you once and for all!" Kaos declared again. "Army," he continued, "ATTACK!"

The Skylanders and Kaos' army attacked each other at the same time.

Spyro shot three fireballs at a troll, and he watched as the troll fell to the ground and disappear into thin air.

Cynder used her shadow form to slip underneath an Earth Sentinel, a creature with a body made only of rock.

Then she used her dark electric breath (purple was this electricity's color) and eliminated it.

Kaos did nothing and just stood on the edge of the sandy beach, smiling.

"ARRGH!" Cynder roared as a troll's fist connected with her head, sending her flying into a rock, and she crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

Spyro dashed over to her, fighting enemies along the way. He checked to see if she was still breathing. She was, but just barely. He defended her unconscious body from the remaining members of Kaos' army.

Spyro heard a grunt from above and looked up to see the trainer of the Skylanders, Cali, and the now-storyteller for the Skylanders, Hugo, fighting a couple of Shadow Knights, Cali with a staff and Hugo with a large book.

Stealth Elf yelled, "We're surrounded! Where are you, Spyro?"

"I'm over here with Cynder!" Spyro said back. "She's unconscious and just barely breathing!"

There was a flash of green light and the Life element captain appeared next to Spyro.

"Go," she told him. "I'll watch Cynder."

Spyro nodded reluctantly and flew off. He landed next to Trigger Happy, who was shooting at point blank at Shadow Knights and Chompies.

"How's it going?" Spyro asked Trigger Happy.

"Good," Trigger Happy cackled, still shooting. "What about you, Spyro? And where the heck is Cynder?"

"She's hurt pretty badly," Spyro explained. "A troll punched her and she landed on a rock. She's unconscious and she's just barely breathing!"

Kaos, who must have been listening, laughed in his high-pitched, screechy voice. "Your girlfriend finally defeated, Skylander?" he said. "Good. She was a pain while we were fighting in my lair!"

"You're lucky, you know," said Spyro. "She could've killed you, you know."

Fear was full in Kaos' eyes.

"What do you mean by this, Skylander?" he asked fearfully. "What do you mean by saying that she could've killed me during that battle?"

"Well, she was corrupted, you know," Spyro told Kaos. "Corrupted by the King of the Undead, Malefor himself."

"Ah, yes, I've heard this story before, Skylander," Kaos acknowledged. "Didn't you know that they still speak of the story in the Underworld?"

Before Spyro could answer, he saw a shadow fall over the water, moving toward the beach.

Meanwhile, Cynder, who's injuries were being nursed by Stealth Elf, saw the shadow long before Spyro did and closed her eyes as a blinding white flash of light entered her vision, a tear upon her cheek.


	2. Chapter 2: Missing

Chapter II

Missing

Spyro opened his eyes as the blinding white light faded. He saw the rest of the Skylanders doing the same.

"Everyone alright?" he called out to the Skylanders.

They all answered back yes, which pleased Spyro much. Then a thought came to mind.

"Alright, are there any casualties?" he asked.

"No," said Hugo, watching from above. "There aren't any soldiers, either."

Spyro looked around; Hugo was right: There were no soldiers around. And Kaos wasn't there either.

"Alright," he continued. "Line up, all elements. Captains, be in front of the line. Elements will all be in separate lines."

The Skylanders lined up, captains in front of the lines. Spyro began to inspect, but then a voice called him out of it.

"Spyro!" said the voice of Hex, a dark witch of the Undead element and one of the only Skylanders Cynder was able to trust completely.

"What?" asked Spyro, listening intently. He turned around and saw the Undead element's line. Someone was missing.

"Where's Cynder?" asked Spyro, now in fear.

"I don't-" Hex began, but she was cut off by Stealth Elf.

"Spyro, it's all my fault!" Stealth Elf cried.

"What do you mean?" demanded Spyro.

It a was a moment before she answered.

"I was nursing her injuries, and when the light came, I couldn't see her, and when the bright light vanished, she wasn't there, so I thought she had woken and limped away," she explained.

Spyro felt hot tears in his eyes: He was one of the few who trusted Cynder and another thing was that he was truly in love with the black dragoness.

"We need to find her," he said finally.

"How are we going to find her, Spyro?" asked Stealth Elf. "She could be anywhere in Skylands!"

Spyro's heart sank: She was right; Cynder could be anywhere in Skylands.

"Well, how's about the captains go to the main realms and the others check the smaller realms?" Hex suggested.

"Yeah, we should do that!" said Spyro. "And Hex, until we find Cynder, you'll be the captain of the Undead element."

"Fine," she told Spyro, a sad note in her voice.

Spyro knew that, of all the Skylanders, only eight trusted her: Spyro, Gill Grunt, Trigger Happy, Stealth Elf, Hex, Ghost Roaster, Chop Chop, Sonic Boom and Sunburn.

Sunburn, Spyro, Sonic Boom Stealth Elf, Gill Grunt and Trigger Happy were the only non-Undead element Skylanders to trust Cynder.

"Where do we go first, Spyro?" asked Hex.

"I'd say that we should try Shattered Island first, then go to the Underworld," Spyro announced to them.

"That sounds good," said Stealth Elf. "But why Shattered Island, Spyro?"

"That's the first place we ever met," Spyro told the captains. "When she was evil."

"What happened there?" inquired Hex.

"Well, she chased me all around the world, trying to do me in for the Dark Master, who Hex and me know to be the king of the Undead."

"And who's that?" questioned Stealth Elf.

"Malefor," whispered Hex, barely loud enough for the captains to hear it.

"That's right," said Spyro. "Malefor was his name, the Dark Master's. You see, when Cynder was just an egg, Malefor sent his forces to steal an egg so that he could corrupt a hatchling.

"While another dragon took my egg to safety among dragons in the Artisan realm, Cynder's egg was snatched-" Spyro was cut off his narrative by a gasp from Stealth Elf and Hex- "and the Dark Master corrupted her with his dark, poisonous powers.

"I went to Shattered Island to see if I could find anything about my heritage and Cynder's, who I had just heard about, and she ambushed me there, threatening to kill me if I didn't give in to join forces with her and Malefor."

Stealth Elf and Hex gave another gasp at this.

"I refused," Spyro continued, "and so there was a chase. She chased me all around the island, trying to kill me by biting my neck.

"Soon enough, I was able to end the chase by shooting a fireball at her. She fell back and I decided to try and follow her to wherever she was going next. After Shattered Island came a realm known as Concurrent Skies.

"We fought at her fortress there in Concurrent Skies. I won, but she was able to escape and then I followed her to a realm outside of Skylands known as Convexity, where I found her with Malefor himself.

"I fought her and she fought back, too, but much more brutally than I. Malefor just stood there, taunting as we fought, so I decided to try and make a move at the so-called Dark Master.

"The evil Cynder knew what I was doing, and so she dashed straight at me, claws outstretched, her teeth bared. I evaded and then spit fire and charged right at her at the same time, causing her to fly right into a pile of rocks.

"There was a flash of purple light, and she turned back to normal, though she was badly hurt. She was now the same size as me. I was now mad at Malefor for doing this, for corrupting a small dragoness to do his bidding. But when I turned around, he was gone. He had escaped after Cynder was returned to normal.

"Afterwards, I took her back to Shattered Island and the natives there nursed her back to health."

"Afterwards, Eon chose me and Cynder to be in the ranks of the Skylanders, her in the Undead ranks and me in the Magic ranks. Since then, everything's been okay, at least, until now."

After a few moments of silence, Hex broke it by saying:

"Spyro, I don't believe you know my backstory?"

"I can't say that I do," admitted Spyro.

"Well," she narrated, "before I was chosen to be in the ranks of the Undead, Malefor hunted me and tried to learn the secrets of my powers, but I refused, so he confronted me in the Underworld and we battled, but he lost and my powers terribly wounded him. He retreated back into the deepest part of the Underworld and I never saw him again."

Spyro was in pure awe at Hex's backstory.

"So what do we do now, go to Shattered Island?" asked Sunburn, captain of the Fire element.

"First, we have to ask Flynn if he can fly all eight of us to Shattered Island," Spyro told the other seven elemental captains.

As the other captains agreed and made their way to where Flynn was, Spyro stopped Hex and Stealth Elf.

"What is it, Spyro?" asked Stealth Elf.

"You guys don't know just how much Cynder means to me," said Spyro. "When I saw her fly into the rocks, it reminded me of when she was evil, something I've never wanted to think about again after the battle. Guys, I don't think I can keep going on with this."

"Then don't, Spyro," comforted Hex. "Only think of positive thoughts, Spyro, not bad thoughts."

Spyro smiled a little, then walked over to Flynn the balloonist.

"Hey, Flynn," greeted Spyro. "Do you have any balloons that can carry eight?"

"Yeah," answered Flynn. "I do. Yeah, I know I have to bring you to Shattered Island, and I also know of the whole Cynder thing, what with her being kidnapped and all that stuff."

"So you want to take us there now, Flynn?"

It was a couple of minutes before Flynn realized what Spyro had just said, as he was eyeing Cali.

"Huh?" he finally asked. "Oh yeah, let's go now. Hop aboard, captains! Next stop, Shattered Island!"


	3. Chapter 3: Shattered Island

Chapter III

Shattered Island

Spyro saw the island come into focus as fog rolled away from Flynn's airship.

"See anything, Spyro?" asked Sunburn.

"No," said Spyro. "Nothing. What about you, Stealth Elf? See anything?"

"All I see is the islands themselves," she answered. "Do all of us need to get off, Spyro?"

"Yes, if there's a gate only one of us can get through, then all of us need to get off." Spyro looked at Flynn. "Thanks for taking us here, Flynn. I really appreciate what you did for us."

"You're welcome," said Flynn. "Now, do I need to stay, or can Stealth Elf teleport you guys back to the Ruins?"

"Stay here, Flynn," Sonic Boom told him. "I don't want Stealth Elf wasting any energy on us! We may need it to locate Cynder."

"Yeah, good point, Boom," whispered Flynn, using the nickname Sonic Boom hated more than anything in the world.

Wincing at the use of her nickname, Sonic Boom went over to Spyro. "Are you doing okay, Spyro?" she asked.

"No, I'm not." Tears began to form in Spyro's eyes. "It's all my fault. I should've stayed with her."

"Spyro, it wasn't anybody's fault," the griffiness comforted. "Not yours, not Stealth Elf's, and especially not Cynder's. We will get her back, Spyro. Trust me on that."

Spyro forced a smile. Sonic Boom draped a wing over him.

Suddenly, there was a CRASH and the air balloon landed on top of a pointy rock.

"Okay, you guys get off, and I'll find a better place to park the balloon," announced Flynn.

Spyro, Sonic Boom, Sunburn, Stealth Elf, Hex, Bash, Gill Grunt, and Trigger Happy jumped off and surveyed the shattered islands before them.

Years ago, Shattered Island had been one huge island, until Kaos came and broke it apart, shattering many pieces of the island. Since then, it was called Shattered Island by the inhabitants.

Spyro sighed at how large the place was. Suddenly, an idea formed in his mind.

"Let's split up!" he announced. "Sunburn, Sonic Boom, you're with me. Stealth Elf, you go with Trigg. Gill Grunt, you'll go with Bash and Hex. Let's go!"

As they went their separate ways, Sunburn asked, "Where should we go first, Spyro? The village?"

"Yeah," said Spyro. "That's a great idea! Glad you thought of it."

"You're welcome," said the phoenix-dragon hybrid. "Just keep me safe. Some of the Mabu like to hunt for me, so if there are any of them in the village, try and scare them off."

"Me too, Spyro," said Sonic Boom. "I'm one of the last female griffins in existence, and many like to hunt for me."

"I understand," he told them. "But let's go. We need to find Cynder."

After about five minutes, the village came into sight. Many of the Mabu children were playing outside.

The Mabu were moles that liked treasure and spending time outdoors. That trait had been re- tired, but some still searched for treasure, and the children still played outside, just not as of- ten.

"Spyro!" called a small Mabu child. His name was Quigley, and he looked up to Spyro, but he did not look up to Cynder.

"Hey, Quig," greeted Spyro. "What's going on right now?"

"Nothing much, just playing around, you know," he answered. He saw Sonic Boom and Sunburn and turned away.

"What is it, Quig?" asked Sunburn, remembering what the Mabu child had once said to Sonic Boom back at the Ruins (Sunburn was in love with Sonic Boom):

"So, are you a lion with a bird's head, or a bird with a lion's body?"

"Well, there are two men in the village pub that have been wanting to talk with you guys," he ex- plained.

"Why do they want us?" Spyro blurted.

"They say they have information on your girl- friend or something," Quigley told him. "Who's your girlfriend?"

"Cynder is my girlfriend, Quigley. Now if you excuse me, I have to go to that pub. Come on, guys."

The village pub was made of stone, unlike the Mabu homes, which were made of birch wood instead.

As the three entered, the pub fell dead silent. All except for two men in a corner. They wore hoods to cover their faces, gloves covered their hands and they wore leather boots on their small feet. It was so dark in the corner, Spyro couldn't see which figure was taller or larger than the other.

"Come closer, so I can see you in the light," beckoned one in a creepy voice.

Spyro looked around; there was no light around the table. Despite that, he went closer to the table, Sonic Boom and Sunburn still trailing behind him.

"What do you want?" asked Spyro.

"Well, I most certainly don't want the griffiness or the hybrid behind you, they have no value to us," said the stranger.

"So what do you want?" Spyro continued.

"I want to tell you something."

"What is it?" blurted Sonic Boom, concerned for Cynder, being one of those who trusted the black dragoness.

"We saw a shadow and a blinding flash coming from the direction where your Ruins are," said the other stranger.

"Yeah, we saw it too," Sunburn retorted. "After it cleared, one of the best Skylanders we know, Cynder, was found to be missing. Do you know anything about that?"

"I know one thing," one of the strangers told them.

"And what would that be?" Spyro's temper was rising.

"It has something to do seconds after the flash of blinding light cleared," explained the other stranger. "Using a telescope, we saw a dark figure moving towards the gate that leads to the Underworld."

"Was there somebody with him?" inquired Spyro.

"Yes, three. A small man with markings on his face-"

"Kaos," murmured Sunburn.

-"A figure draped in a red cloak, red like the color of blood," continued the stranger. "And a black dragoness was on the dark figure's back."

"Cynder!" exclaimed Spyro. "Was she okay?"

"There was blood dripping down her body, landing on the dark figure's feet."

Tears formed yet again in Spyro's eyes. Both Sunburn and Sonic Boom draped a red and black wing over him.

As they turned to leave, the strangers stood and one called out, "The dark figure was a dragon!"


	4. Chapter 4: The Dark Figure

Chapter 4

The Dark Figure

Cynder opened her blue eyes. She lifted her head, and felt something crack on one side of it. She placed her paw on the side and felt something wet. She looked at her paw and saw that the wet stuff was blood.

She groaned; she hated seeing blood. Suddenly, a door in front of her opened, making her jump. It was then that she noticed her surroundings.

It seemed that she was in a castle with stained glass windows. The floor and walls were made of pure stone. Cynder shivered. The floor was cold, and the chain made her wince.

A voice rang out from one of the corners. She looked over and saw four people standing there. A person in red, Kaos, his goblin, Glumshanks, and a figure who lay in the shadows.

She guessed that they had come in when the door opened, just she had never noticed who came in.

"It seems that you have finally woken, young Cynder," said the figure in the shadows in a deep voice that she could barely understand. "Good. I have been wanting you to wake up ever since I took you from the battlefield back at the Ruins."

Cynder was in pure disbelief. "That was you?" she croaked, her throat too dry for her to yell.

"Yes, little creature!" roared Kaos.

"Silence, Kaos!" commanded the dark figure. "Let the young dragoness speak her mind, please!"

The figure in red cackled, almost like Ghost Roaster, one of her fellow Undead Skylanders and one of those who trusted her.

"Master," said Glumshanks, "I think we should listen to the king." It took Cynder a moment to realize that he was talking to Kaos, not the dark figure.

"Let me go!" Cynder pleaded, tears streaming down her face. "Please! I'll do anything, just let me go! All I want to do is see Spyro again!"

The dark figure growled. "That purple dragon is a large pain to us all, Cynder! Don't you realize that he's been plotting against you, trying to get into your mind, to manipulate you! When he saved you, he did it out of greed!"

"How do you know that he saved me?" Cynder asked. The dark figure tensed up, then relaxed.

"I have my sources, black dragoness," he assured her. "And my sources are always right."

Cynder could only wonder how any of this was possible. Nobody she knew, except for Spyro and a few of her friends, knew of her dark and miserable past, which she wanted to forget.

Cynder hung her head and began to sob. Large tears fell from her baby blue eyes and landed on the cold stone floor.

"Don't cry, Cynder," said the dark figure. "You'll see the true meaning of your life soon enough..."

Cynder looked up, her eyes a raging wildfire. "You're lying!" she yelled. "I know the true meaning of my life and I am meant to spend the rest of my life with Spyro, not under your rule!"

"HA HA HA HA HA!" laughed the dark figure. "You truly believe that, Cynder? My, how naive you've become throughout the years, young dragon."

"What do you mean? Answer me!"

"I'll not give you my identity or my plans for you. Those are both for another time, young Cynder."

Impatience began to grow in Cynder's chest. She wanted answers, didn't the dark figure see that!

Kaos laughed too and slapped Glumshanks on the back, causing the goblin to stumble forward.

The goblin recovered and took his spot next to Kaos, then resumed listening to the dark figure.

"I want the purple dragon dead, but not you, Cynder. In fact, I want you to be the one to kill him."

"I would never do that to the dragon I love!" protested Cynder hotly, tears still spilling from her eyes.

"I need you to do that, Cynder, or else I will have to kill you too, something I don't to do," explained the figure. "If he lives, he will soon find out my secret, so will you, and that can never happen. Do you see what I mean, Cynder?"

"No, I don't!"

"Well, you should. After all, I knew you before you were born."

"What do you mean? You knew me when I was an egg?"

"Of course," the figure told her. His voice close to a whisper now.

He got up, but stayed in the shadows. The door in front of Cynder opened and Kaos and the person in red made their way to the open door, but Glumshanks and the dark figure still stood where they were.

"I will talk to you later, Cynder, but for right now, you must sleep."

Glumshanks raised his fist. Cynder closed her eyes. She felt a pain on her head, and thought no more.


	5. Chapter 5: A Dark Night

Chapter 5

A Dark Night

Spyro stood on the balcony of his and Cynder's balcony. The night sky was a pure black color, like Sonic Boom's feathers.

The grffiness and Sunburn stood by Spyro, watching him in case he should start crying or collapse from exhaustion. Spyro had not slept for four days since the revelation back at Shattered Island.

"Spyro, will you be okay if me and Sunburn leave for tonight so we can get some sleep, too?" Sonic Boom asked. She and Sunburn hadn't slept either.

"Look, what I'm going to do is go to the Underworld," explained Spyro. "The strangers mentioned that the dark figure had taken Cynder into the Underworld while the white light blinded us. I need to find Cynder and defeat Kaos, the person in red, and last but not least, the dark figure who took Cynder from my sight!"

Sunburn and Sonic Boom's worries returned. How long was Spyro able to keep his no-sleep thing up?

"Spyro, this is unhealthy!" Sonic Boom exclaimed. "You should get some sleep! Yes, we want to find Cynder, too, but for right now, we all need some rest before we go off to the next realm, especially if you're planning to go to the Underworld! You need to be wide awake to face the skeletons down there! And if Kaos and the person in red are down there, you really need rest!"

Spyro turned around and glared at her. She shrank away. Sunburn stood his ground and glared back.

"What the heck was that for?" Sunburn yelled at him. "She just wants to help you, you know! She cares about Cynder too!"

"Like I don't know that!" roared Spyro. "I just want Cynder back, Sunburn, is that really so wrong?"

"No, it's not, Spyro, but you don't have to get all mad at Sonic Boom or anybody else!"

Spyro hung his head, ashamed. "I'm sorry, guys, it's just-" Sonic Boom cut him off.

"It's alright, Spyro, you don't need to apologize, but you really don't need to go into the Underworld right now. You're so tired, you really need rest."

Spyro disagreed with her request. "No, I need to go find Cynder. You guys can stay here and sleep, but I need to go find the dragoness I love."

Sunburn wanted to stop him, but deep inside, he agreed. He nodded.

"Thank you," said Spyro.

"You'd better come back here soon, Spyro," said Sonic Boom. "I hope you find Cynder down there."

Spyro opened his wings and flew out of the tree house. When he landed, Hex greeted him with a wave.

"Hey, Hex," Spyro greeted.

"Where're you going?" she asked.

"The Underworld."

Hex gasped. "Why are you going there, Spyro? It's dangerous!"

"I know, but I was hoping that you could accompany me."

"Does this have something to with Cynder?" Her words stunned Spyro.

Spyro sighed and nodded.

"Then I will come with you, Spyro, only because I want Cynder back and also to keep you safe down there."

Spyro and Hex made their way down to the beach. The sand was still stained red from the battle days ago.

Spyro wondered if any of the blood was Cynder's. The door that lead to the Underworld was closed when they went up to it.

"Where do you think T-Bone is?" asked Hex. T-Bone was the skeleton who had helped them on their ventures into the Underworld the year before.

"Don't know," Spyro answered honestly. "He's probably inside, doing something very insane."

Suddenly a voice creepily rang out from across the beach. "Who wants me now?" it asked. Spyro turned around to see T-Bone standing next to a wall of rocks, holding one of the rocks in his hand.

"Hey, T-Bone, could you help us get into the Underworld?" Hex asked as nice as she could. She despised the skeleton for being so annoying all the time.

"Maybe, if you can answer my riddle," the skeleton answered.

"What's the riddle?" grumbled Hex irritably, wanting desperately to find Cynder.

"If you look at the numbers on my face, you won't find thirteen anyplace!"

Hex and Spyro thought for a moment, then Spyro found the answer.

"Is it a clock?" he suggested.

"Yes, that's it!" exclaimed T-Bone, cackling like mad.

"Just let us into the Underworld already!" both Spyro and Hex said together.

T-Bone bounded over to the door that lead to the Underworld and opened it. As Spyro and Hex stepped forward to enter, T-Bone stopped them midstep.

"WHAT!" Spyro yelled.

"Why are you going down there, you two? It's dangerous!"

"It's a rescue mission, T-Bone, and we need to hurry to save her," answered Hex exasperatedly.

"Does it have something to do with that Cynder chick?" inquired T-Bone.

"Yeah, why?" answered Spyro.

"That dragoness gives me the creeps!"

"Don't you dare say that about her!" Spyro felt his temperature rise.

"Why not?" T-Bone cackled. "Why doesn't she give YOU the creeps?"

Spyro couldn't answer right away. Then, "Because I'm in love with her, T-Bone, you happy?"

The skeleton's eyes widened in amazement. His mouth dropped open and arms hung limply at his sides.

Hex formed a Phantom Orb, which was her primary power.

"I will hit you unless you give us full access to the Underworld, T-Bone, so I suggest you get out of the way," she threatened.

T-Bone, knowing the dangers of making Hex mad, so he jumped out of the way, allowing them to enter.

"Spyro, wait up!" Spyro whirled around to see Sunburn, Sonic Boom, Gill Grunt, and Trigger Happy hurrying towards them.

"What are you guys doing here?" gasped Hex, astonished to see them.

"We're going down there with you guys," answered Sonic Boom.

"Didn't you say that you and Sunurn need sleep?" wondered Spyro out loud to Sonic Boom.

"Well, yeah, but we still wanted to help you," she answered. "You'll need all the help you can get down there, even with Hex, you know what I mean?"

Spyro nodded. "Okay, so then once we're in there, we'll need to split up in different ways. How will we do it?"

"We already thought that up, Spyro," Sunburn told him. "You and Hex'll be together, me and Sonic Boom, and Trigger Happy and Gill Grunt. Good with that?"

"Yeah, that's a great idea!" exclaimed Hex.

"Okay. Well, then, let's go down there, shall we?" suggested Spyro.

They all agreed and set off through the gates to the Underworld.

"Have fun, you six!" said T-Bone. "Hope you all come out alive! It's mighty evil down there, you know."

"What's he mean by that?" asked Trigger Happy.

"Don't worry about it," Hex and Spyro told him.

The gates closed behind the six, leaving them in total darkness.


	6. Chapter 6: The Underworld

Chapter 6

The Underworld

"What happened to the lights?" asked Trigger Happy.

"Hold on, I'll get some light in here," said Hex. For a few moments, there was silence. Then a phantom orb's eerie purple light filled the space they were in.

Spyro looked around at his surroundings. They were in a cavern that seemed endless. In front of them was a tunnel that lead to where they did not know.

"What are we going to do now, Spyro?" inquired Hex. "Should we just go through that tunnel?"

"Yeah, we're going through that, tunnel," Spyro answered. "We need to find Cynder and we need to find her now!" There was suddenly venom in the purple dragon's voice.

The others brushed it off, except for Sunburn and Sonic Boom. Their worry stayed with them where ever they went with Spyro while on this quest.

Without saying anything else, Spyro walked into the dark tunnel. With only Hex's phantom orb's light to guide them, they continued on.

They went along the dark tunnel's path for what seemed like hours. Just as Gill Grunt thought it would never end, a red light filled the tunnel. There was an opening in front of them.

The red light was provided by a few lanterns that hung on the dark walls. Spyro knew that they were endless lanterns, lit centuries ago by the Elder Elementals, who not only possessed all elements, but also the elements of Light and Darkness within their flesh.

Spyro looked around for a sign of Cynder. She was around here somewhere, he just knew it. Then came the voice.

"Well, well, well, Skylander, it seems you've finally come down to the Underworld!" Spyro turned his head around so fast, he cricked his neck. There, standing on a rocky pedestal, was Kaos.

The black markings on his face showed brighter than ever. Glee was high upon his face; his black cloak trailed behind him. Kaos laughed, his high-pitched creepy voice seemed to bounce off the walls themselves.

Spyro went into a defensive stance, ready to fight if the need be, which most certainly what was going to happen right now.

Suddenly Spyro noticed the person standing next to Kaos. The person was dressed in a red cloak and their hands were bones only, no flesh on them at all.

"Where's Cynder, Kaos?" Spyro roared at the little tyrant.

"She's probably somewhere around here," Kaos told him. "You know, she likes to get herself beaten up, so she's probably in a bloody fight."

Spyro's blood boiled to breaking point. Fire formed at the corner of his mouth. His purple eyes blazed like a wildfire.

Kaos raised his arms and a few of his minions popped up: the Evil Phoenix Dragon, the Evil Ent, and the Evil Dark Witch, evil versions of Sunburn, Stump Smash and Hex.

Trigger Happy raised his two golden guns and shot several gold coins at the Evil Ent. Then he formed the guns together, creating a machine gun. Cackling like a madman, he shot at point blank all over the cavern.

The Evil Ent sucked in his breath, about to release a dark acorn attack, when a large amount of bullets hit him. His eyes widened, and he blew into pieces in a flash of light.

Sunburn teleported over to his evil self and they attacked each other at the same time. Feathers flew to the ground, followed not long after by a pool of blood. There was another flash of light and the regular Sunburn flew down.

Unluckily, the blood had come from the regular Sunburn. There was a long gash on his shoulder and blood dripped from Sunburn's mouth.

Sonic Boom rushed over to check on him. Meanwhile, Hex threw several phantom orbs at her dark counterpart. All caught the Dark Witch in the chest and she disappeared.

Kaos backed away slowly from the seven Skylanders. He reached for something inside his cloak and pulled out a brass knife. He raised his hand and threw it at Sonic Boom. But before it could hit her, Sunburn raised up and breathed a long torrent of fire. Within seconds, the blade of the knife was nothing but molten metal. Only the handle remained of the weapon.

"NO!" screeched Kaos. "HOW? HOW COULD YOU HAVE DONE THAT WHEN, USUALLY, THE BLADE WOULD'VE GONE STRAIGHT THROUGH THE FLAMES?"

A faint smile tugged at Sunburn's lips and he slowly shrugged, his injuries slowing him down.

"Maybe the heat was too much for them, Kaos?" he suggested. After all, I'm a phoenix-dragon hybrid and I was born at the very center of a volcano."

"So? How does that make it possible for you to melt my blade?"

"I really don't care what you say, Kaos!" snapped Spyro. "I just want to know where Cynder is, okay? So just shut up and tell me already!"

Kaos's fear worsened as he saw Spyro's purple scales turning a dark black color.

"What's happening to you?" he asked. "W-why are you turning black?"

Spyro didn't answer, and, to the others' horror, Spyro became Dark Spyro. Instead of his purple eyes, Spyro had white eyes with no pupils. In fact, all the parts of Spyro's body had turned pure black, even his horns, wings and claws.

"ARGHH!" Kaos ran away. Spyro flew after him, hot in pursuit of the little tyrant.

Hex also went after Kaos, though she was more worried about Spyro than anything else.

Then the person in red flew away from where they stood. Sunburn started after, but Sonic Boom stopped him.

"What?" he asked.

"You need to go back to the Ruins to rest, Sunburn," she told him. "You're injured. Come on, I'll go with you."

"No!" he protested. "We need to either go help Spyro or pursue the person in red."

He pushed past her and began his pursuit of the person in red.

Sonic Boom sighed. She turned to Trigger Happy and Gill Grunt.

"What?" asked Gill. "We're going after him, aren't we?"

"Of course!" she exclaimed exasperatedly. "I was just wondering if you guys were coming with me!"

Gill Grunt shuffled the flippers he had for feet indecisively. Then he stiffened up and announced, "How's about we go the heck after him?"

They dashed after Sunburn and the person in red, hoping to catch them before something went terribly wrong.

As they tried to catch up with Sunburn, Spyro charged after Kaos, shouting threats at him. Kaos just laughed.

"What, you think you can catch me, Skylander?" Kaos taunted. "You know, your girlfriend is nothing but a piece of trash! She deserves death as soon as she wakes up in the morning!"

Spyro shot three fireballs. Zero of them hit Kaos, all hitting the walls of the cavern. Spyro grunted angrily.

"Come on, Kaos, stop running like the little girl you are!" he roared. "Why not be the tyrant you are and face me? We can see who's the strongest, you and I."

A cold laugh echoed through the cavern. "Well, we all know who that person is, and that would be me!"

"Oh really? Then why did me and the others defeat you when we confronted you at your lair, Kaos?"

"There were eight of you then!" Kaos retorted. "But right now, there's only one of you and one of me! So now, both sides are even in their number of players!"

As they entered another part of the cavern, Kaos turned around and yelled, "Welcome to the madhouse, Skylander. I set a trap, and you sprang it GLORIOUSLY! NOW LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!"

As Spyro stepped towards him, nine Dark Minions popped up out of nowhere. Spyro turned around to see where Hex was. But as he turned around, Kaos shot a bolt of energy from his hand, a new power he learned from the dark figure. The invisible energy hit the rocks behind Spyro, causing them to tumble to the ground, blocking Hex from reaching Spyro.

"Oh crap," he whispered to himself. Kaos stood where he was and laughed. Just laughed, at Spyro, at what he had done, and everything else inbetween.

"What's so funny, Kaos?" asked Spyro.

"Oh, it's jut that your blind love for that dumb black dragoness has led you into my trap."

"What do you mean?"

"She was never here in the first place, Skylander! I tricked you! She was never taken into the Underworld! Those strangers, they work for me, for that dark figure I know they've told you about."

"Wait, you stationed them at Shattered Island just to so that they would give me the wrong information?"

"Yes, Skylander. Now how's about you and me get on with the fight?" suggested Kaos.

Spyro gritted his teeth and braced himself for the fight. He closed his eyes. Then he opened them. "Bring it, Kaos."

And then Spyro charged.


	7. Chapter 7: Rage

Chapter 7

Rage

The dark minions raised their weapons and dashed at Spyro. He shot his fireballs and they hit two of the minions, the Dark version of Flameslinger and the Dark version of Eruptor.

Kaos shot the energy blast again. This time, it hit Spyro. The purple dragon flew into a pile of rocks. He suddenly received a fleeting image in his mind of Cynder flying into the pile of rocks back at the Ruins.

Anger replaced Spyro's sense of pain and he charged straight at Kaos. The little tyrant felt the horns cut into his skin and he yelped. Blood began streaming down Kaos's back.

"YOU LITTLE-!" Kaos began, but Spyro cut him off with a burst of dark fire. That was it: Spyro had completed his transformation into Dark Spyro.

He rised up and let loose a fury of dark fire that obliterated every one of Kaos's Dark Minions.

Kaos shot energy blast after energy blast, but not one was able to hit the dark dragon in front of him.

"How is this possible?" Kaos wondered to himself.

"Now is the time you meet your end, Kaos!" Spyro's voice was now distorted, an effect of him taking his dark form.

Dark fire blasts began to shower all over the cavern, causing stalagmites to fall from the roof and impale the ground below. Cracks spread in those places.

Dark Spyro couldn't help but laugh. It was wrong, but he did it anyway. This was the first time he had let this type of corruption go out of control.

No longer, under this form, would he listen to anybody or anything. He would only abide to his own laws.

Kaos couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the large cracks in the ground. Soon enough, the ground would give way, and either he would fall to his doom in the dark abyss below, or they both would.

Then he heard the noise he dreaded: a loud crack. He looked down and saw the floor starting to break apart.

Dark Spyro flew over to where Kaos stood and tackled him. Kaos could see the unchecked anger that seethed within Dark Spyro's eyes. Little dark flames danced in his gaze.

"Welcome to your end!" announced Dark Spyro.

"Oh really, Skylander?" teased Kaos, gaining his confidence back. "You really should be more careful, you know."

"Why is that?" asked Dark Spyro.

"Well, you fell right into my trap!" cackled Kaos. "You believed that the dumb little dragoness you love so much was really here!"

"Where is she, then?"

"Somewhere in another realm, somewhere you won't get to in time to save her!" HA HA HA HA!"

"Why, you little tyrant, I've had about enough of you!"

Kaos laughed and laughd. "She's the piece of trash that nobody touches. She just sits there and rots, but then you have to come along and tell everybody that she's okay and that they have nothing to worry about. But don't any of them know the truth about her? How she was evil before good?"

"Yes, some do," answered Dark Spyro.

"Why didn't you just let her die after your final battle with her?" asked Kaos.

"Be- wait, how did you know about our final battle?" Kaos had finally let his tongue slip. He couldn't give any information without revealing the dark figure's true identity.

"I have my sources, purple dragon, and my soures are always right," said Kaos.

"Oh yeah?" said Dark Spyro. "And what source would this be?"

Kaos couldn't give much more without revealing the identity of his master and his master's plans.

"Why shoud I tell you, eh?" retorted Kaos. "If I tell you, then you'll probably kill me."

Dark Spyro laughed coldly. This laugh was even more distorted than his voice. "Well, I must say, you aren't dumb enough to give up all your secrets. For that, I won't kill you."

Kaos let out a sigh of relief, but the fear returned when he saw the dark dragon raise a claw.

"But," continued Dark Spyro, "I will kill you for trying to kill Sonic Boom."

To try to make sure Spyro would not kill him, Kaos came up with more insults about Cynder.

"How dare you keep a piece of filth like Cynder inside the Ruins!" he said. "All she does is cause the misfortune of others. You may not realize it, but that is the truth, dragon, can't you see that for once in your life?"

"SHUT UP!" commanded Dark Spyro. "YOU ARE THE ONE WHO CAUSES THE MOST MISFORTUNE IN SKYLANDS, NOT HER, KAOS!"

Kaos shrieked with giggles. "How blinded can you be? You always say to the others that she is a good dragoness, that she is somebody they can trust. But that is a lie, a lie some believe not to be true. They have believed your words, you insane monster, but they have not realized the terrible doom that has been brought upon them!"

"SHUT UP!" Dark Spyro roared once again at the little tyrant.

"You should just kill her already, Skylander, and let peace be brought throughout Skylands!"

"SHUT UP!"

Before they could yell at each any more, there was a loud blast, and Hex appeared at Dark Spyro's side.

"ARGHHH!" Kaos screeched when he saw her. To silence him, she shot a phantom orb into his chest, knocking him unconscious. Then she turned to Dark Spyro.

"Spyro, calm down," she said. "Don't let the Darkness take you over."

Spyro blinked once, then there was a flash of purple light and Spyro returned to normal.

He looked up at his friend. "Thanks, Hex," he said. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that."

She put a hand on his shoulder. "It's alright, Spyro, none of this was your fault." She looked over to Kaos's unconscious body. "What should we do with him?" she asked.

"Let's leave him here," Spyro told her. "When he wakes up, he won't know what to do, don't you agree?"

"Yeah," she answered.

"So where are Sunburn and the others?"

"I think they went to confront the person in red."

"Oh no! We need to go there now! I think the person in red is more powerful than Kaos is. I'm not for sure, but it's a possibility."

Fear appeared in Hex's eyes. "Then what do we do?"

"Come on, let's go help them before something bad happens!"


	8. Chapter 8: The Person in Red

Chapter 8

The Person in Red

Sunburn ran after the person in red, who had fleed soon after Kaos had. While Spyro and Hex went after the little tyrant, Sunburn, Sonic Boom, Trigger Happy, and Gill Grunt went after the person in red.

The person in red, so thought Sunburn, was obviously not a regular creature from Skylands. They were something of another realm.

"Come and get me!" cackled the person in red. The voice sounded like Ghost Roaster's and was obviously a male's.

"Get the heck back here!" Sunburn shouted.

There were no torches on the walls, so it made it hard for him and the others to see where they were going.

"If only we had Stealth Elf," he muttered to himself.

And then he saw the light. It looked like it came from a large fire, though the color of the light was green.

"What is that?" Sunburn heard Sonic Boom whisper.

They charged on and found themselves face-to-face with the person in red. His all-bone hands now wrapped themselves around the golden hilt of a sword.

The light was coming from a green fire in the back of the cavern.

"Welcome to your end!" hissed the person in red. He charged at Sonic Boom, the sword raised high above his hooded head.

She dodged and sent forth a shockwave of soundwaves. The person in red clutched his head and screamed. The scream sent a shiver down everyone's spine, making them shiver.

Next came Trigger Happy's attack. He formed his two golden guns together and made a machine gun. The golden coin bullets hit the person in red, but they seemed to have no effect on him.

Gill Grunt shot three harpoons. They sunk into the person in red's body, but no word of pain escaped the person in red's lips.

"HA HA!" he laughed. "None of those cheap little tricks will work on me! None of them!"

Sunburn growled and disappeared in a burst of fire. He then appeared next to the person in red. He shot a burst of red-orange fire, and before the person in red could react, Sunburn disappeared again, appearing next to Sonic Boom.

"Let's attack him from all sides," he told her.

She nodded and told the same thing to the others. They went on all sides of him and kept attacking. The person in red screamed as loud as his searing pain would allow.

Sonic Boom stepped forward to get a better shot when she felt something wet under her paws.

She looked down and saw a black pool of blood on the ground. The blood was also dripping from the hem of the person in red's cloak.

She yelled to Sunburn, "He's slowly dying!"

"How do you know?" he asked.

"I can see a pool of blood over here! I think we're winning!"

Sunburn felt her glee and resumed blasting the person in red with flames. He then used his Phoenix Dash to cause even more damage.

The person in red raised his arms and chanted. Before Sunburn knew it, he was blasted back into a wall. He assumed that the blast had come from the person in red. He dashed back at the creature and resumed his attempt at trying to kill the person in red.

Sonic Boom also recovered and shot the soundwaves again. The person in red clutched his head again. He raised his sword and slashed downward. The sword hit Sonic Boom's right wing and left a deep gash.

Blood visibly dripped from her black feathers. Anger gathered in Sunburn's chest and he let out the largest blast of fire yet.

The person in red's hood caught fire and it burned away. Sunburn gasped and looked away.

The person in red's heas was nothing but a flaming skull. Even the eyes and mouth had fire blazing inside them.

"So you now know what I am, don't you, hybrid?" he rasped.

"What are you?" asked Sunburn.

"I am a skeleton, cursed forever to be burning by an elf witch," the person in red explained.

Only one elf witch came to mind.

"Was her name Hex?" Sunburn asked him.

"How did you know, hybrid?"

"Because I'm, a friend of hers, and we've come down here to rescue a friend of ours."

"Was that friend's name Cynder?"

"How did you know that?" inquired Sunburn.

"Because I work for the one who kidnapped her," said the person in red.

"And is she down here?"

"No," he told Sunburn. "She isn't. All of this- you coming down here and you fighting Kaos- was a trick arranged by me, my employer, and Kaos himself. And you fell for it! HA HA HA HA! TAKE THAT, SKYLANDERS!"

Sonic Boom, enraged by what she had just heard, lunged at the person in red and slashed him with her long talons. Blood dripped profusely off the remaining parts of the cloak.

The person in red raised his sword agin, but before he could do anything, a harpoon sunk itself into his chest. Gill Grunt came into the person in red's view, followed by Trigger Happy. Gill Grunt was unscathed, but Trigger Happy had a cut on his head that made blood trickle downward.

The person in red reached back and took the harpoon out of his back. He threw it at Sunburn, who evaded and was about to shoot fire, when he saw Sonic Boom still scratching and tearing at the person in red.

He grabbed Sonic Boom by her neck and threw her on the ground. He raised his sword. Sonic Boom shielded herself with a wing. She saw the sword come down and screamed as her wing was pierced by the weapon. Sunburn, his anger overflowing, threw himself at the person in red and engulfed him with the largest blast of fire yet. The red-orange flames were too hot for the person in red's no-flesh body and they incinerated him. When Sunburn stopped, he saw nothing left of the person in red but a pile of ashes.

He looked over to Sonic Boom, who lay on the ground, clutching her wing. A pool of blood formed around her body, even if it was just her wing that had been pierced.

Before Sunburn could do anything, Spyro and Hex appeared. They stared at the scene in front of them.

"What happened?" gasped Hex.

"Our fight with the person in red," said Sunburn.

"Where is the person in red?" asked Spyro.

"He's no more."

"You killed him?" Spyro guessed.

"Yeah. All that's left of him is this pile of ashes in front of me," Sunburn explained to them.

He went to Sonic Boom. "Are you okay?" he asked.

She nodded.

"What happened to her?" inquired Spyro.

"Her wing was pierced by a sword the person in red had. She shielded herself, and-"

"I get it." Spyro looked around and then said to Sunburn, "Come on. Let's get out of here."

Sunburn picked Sonic Boom up in his claws and flew out of the cavern, the others not far behind. When he saw the bright light at the end of the cavern, the only emotions left in him were love and hope.


	9. Chapter 9: Back at the Ruins

Chapter 9

Back at the Ruins

Spyro landed near the healing tent, which was where you would go if you were injured.

Stealth Elf, who was the only Skylander who helped out at the healing tent, was there. She looked up from cleaning one of the side tables and saw Sunburn, Spyro, Trigger Happy, Gill Grunt, Hex, and Sonic Boom. Then she saw that Sonic Boom was unconscious and bleeding.

"Spyro, what happened?" she asked concernedly.

"We went into the Underworld and found Kaos and the person in red," he explained, "and me and Hex went after Kaos, while Sunburn and the others went after the person in red. Hex knocked Kaos unconscious and Sunburn incinerated the person in red, but during that fight Sonic Boom's wing was pierced by the person in red's sword while she was trying to protect herself."

Stealth Elf nodded and picked Sonic Boom up, placing her on a medical bed. Spyro looked around.

"Where's Cali?" he asked Stealth Elf.

"She'll be coming soon enough," she answered. "About now, everybody will be waking up."

And sure enough, she was right about that.

After only a few minutes, Cali entered the tent. She stopped and stared at the six Skylanders, Stealth Elf included, gathered around the bed where Sonic Boom lay.

"What the-" she looked to Stealth Elf. "What happened here?" she asked her.

It was a few moments before Stealth Elf answered. "They just got back from the Underworld."

"What were you guys doing there?"

It was Sunburn who answered. "We went down there because we thought Cynder was down there."

"Let me guess, the strangers' advice back at Shattered Island?"

"Yeah," said Sunburn. "So we went down there and confronted the person in red and Kaos. Spyro and Hex went after Kaos, while me, Sonic Boom, Trigger Happy, and Gill Grunt went after the person in red.

"When we faced off with the person in red, Sonic Boom was thrown on the ground. The person in red raised his sword. She shielded herself with her wing, and then the sword went right through her wing."

Cali gasped. "So what happened to Kaos?" she finally managed to ask.

"I knocked him unconscious with one of my phantom orbs," Hex told her. "He's still down there."

"And what of the person in red?"

"I incinerated him," Sunburn answered. "He was a skeleton," he added, seeing Cali's worried expression. "He was undead, and he was also cursed by someone he said was an elf witch." He glanced over to Hex.

"Wait, the person in red was that particular skeleton?" blurted Hex, astonished.

"What do you mean, Hex?" inquired Spyro. "What do you mean by 'that particular skeleton'?"

"Years ago, when I went down to the Underworld to face off with Malefor, this skeleton who worked for him tried to stop me from getting to his lair," Hex slowly explained. "Instead of wanting to kill him, I cursed him, so that he would forever burn."

Spyro just stood there and did nothing. Finally, he said, "Well, killing probably would not have been the best choice, and to be honest, I think you knew what you were doing and did what you thought was right. After all, only you and you alone can make your own choices."

Hex did something that she had never done since getting out of the Underworld after her battle with Malefor: she smiled.

The smile was the most unexpected thing Spyro could have ever imagined.

"Wow, Hex," he finally managed to say.

"What?" she asked.

"You just smiled," he answered.

Hex looked amazed all of a sudden. After getting out of the Underworld, she had only smiled and laughed once: an incident involving Trigger Happy, Slam Bam (a water Skylander) and a gold coin up the rear end.

Going back to the conversation, Spyro turned to Cali, who was checking over Sonic Boom's injuries.

"How is she?" he asked.

"The sword went all the way through, and because of that, she lost a lot of blood, but as far as I can tell, she'll be back up to full health in about three to four days," Cali reported.

The Skylanders cheered when they heard this news. But then Spyro realized that there were other things they had to do before Sonic Boom was well.

"Hey, guys," he called. "Has anybody realized that we still need to track the strangers?"

Then he realized he hadn't told them of his fight with Kaos. In only a couple of minutes, he told them of what had transpired.

Cali sighed. "This is news we can work with. It seems that this 'dark figure' is the one who controls all of these guys and gives them their orders. If we can defeat the strangers, then we have eliminated all of the dark figure's minions. That will also get us one step closer to saving Cynder."

Spyro turned his back on the others, then opened his wings to fly.

"Where're you going?" questioned Stealth Elf.

"I'm going back to the treehouse so I can get some rest before we move out again," he told the others. "I guess I'll see you guys later."

Spyro flew off from the ground and sped toward his and Cynder's treehouse. The treehouse looked like a beacon of life for Spyro as he prepared to land on the balcony.

He landed and moved into the bedroom. The room and house looked more forlorn than ever. Whenever Cynder was here, the place was like a beacon of hope and where evil would never come.

Spyro jumped onto the bed and lay down, wishing that he had Cynder.

Soon, he thought. Soon he would find Cynder, defeat the dark figure, and save her from the dark figure's evil wrath.

He closed his eyes. A single tear rolled down his cheek. As he slowly and reluctantly fell into a deep sleep, he wondered where in the world Cynder was. And he hoped that she was alright.


	10. Chapter 10: Deathly Plans

Chapter 10

Deathly Plans

Cynder opened her eyes slowly. Pain erupted on the side of her head. It was probably the punch from Glumshanks, she thought.

"So you are awake once more," said the voice. Cynder turned her neck and saw the dark figure in the corner again.

He had his front paws crossed in front of him. The hood was once again drawn up around of his head.

"You're back again, are you?" Cynder grumbled.

"What, you don't enjoy my company, young Cynder?" asked the dark figure. "I thought that you enjoyed it. Hm, this can be arranged, you know."

Fear made its way into Cynder's heart at hearing this. "W-what do you mean by that?"

"What I mean is that I could manipulate your mind right now without so much as touching you." Cynder's throat tightened and her heart started pumping fast. "But, I probably won't do such a thing, so be thankful."

Cynder gulped and felt a tiny bit of relief seep through her body. Her eyes closed a little.

"You look so weary," the dark figure continued. "Allow me to make you more comftorable." He called for Glumshanks and told him to loosen the chain around her neck. Once it was done, he ordered the goblin away. "There, that's better isn't it? It's the least I could do for you, Cynder. After all, you've done so much for me."

"I haven't done anything for you, you big dumb monster!" Cynder interrupted. She felt tears in her eyes.

"Don't cry, Cynder. As I've told you before, you will find the true meaning of your life soon enough."

Cynder shook her head. "Even though you've said that twice now, I still don't get what you mean. Tell me who you are! You said that you knew me as an egg! I want to know how!"

"I don't have to explain myself all the time, Cynder," he said to her.

Cynder tried to use her breath attack, but it was totally useless.

"Why in the heck can't I use my electricity?" she bursted out.

"The chain around your neck prevents you or anybody else from using any elemental attack on it. It's just the way I made it, you know?"

Cynder sighed and put her head on her front paws, careful not to put her head on the sharp spikes on the bracers on her paws.

As she fell asleep, she could hear a deep laugh.

Suddenly she was soaring over the castle, the wind at a very high speed. A river shimmered below her. She sped toward a portal in the middle of the sky. She entered the portal.

Then she saw that she was in a realm that held some strange type of element. In the middle of the realm was an altar. There stood a huge purple dragon with yellow eyes, no pupils and five horns on his head, one in the middle, and two on each side.

His lips were curled in a snarl. Another, much smaller purple dragon was standing in front of the larger one, standing in a defensive stance.

She prepared to land on the altar, her large wings buffeting large gusts of wind toward the two combatants. As she landed, she shot a blast of dark fire at the smaller purple dragon. He dodged, and then shot three fireballs up at her. Cynder rolled up into a ball and encased herself in a ball of dark flames.

When she hit the altar, a shockwave of dark fire shot out.

The small purple dragon was hit, and he flew towards the edge. He almost fell off, but was able to latch onto the edge and pulled himself up. It was then that Cynder noticed the other portal in the middle of the altar.

The larger purple dragon then shouted something at her and Cynder felt a pain in her shoulder as something collided with it.

Blood streamed down her shoulder. The small purple dragon flew in front of her. Cynder snarled and swiped at him, then tried to lash him with her tail.

She missed, though, and turning to her side exposed the soft flesh there. The smaller purple dragon took his chance, and raked her flesh with his sharp claws. His teeth bared in a grimace, the larger purple dragon ran forward and took the smaller one in his jaws and threw him at the edge of the altar again. He was able to catch himself in midair, though, and shot another three fireballs at Cynder and the larger dragon.

Though the larger dragon was too slow and was hit by one of the fireballs, Cynder dodged the other two and dashed at the small purple dragon. She rose up and unleashed a fury of dark fire and dark electricity combined at the small purple dragon. He was hit by the blast and collapsed to the ground. Cynder could see that he was still breathing and moved forward, ready to end the puny dragon's life.

But before she could do anything, the small purple dragon jumped up and slashed Cynder's chest. Rage overtook the sense of pain the slash had left her with, and she slashed back. She missed again.

The small purple dragon sped at the large purple dragon and latched himself onto his neck. He slashed and bit, causing blood to gush out. The blood sprayed onto Cynder's face and dripped onto the ground.

Cynder seemed to disappear for a moment as she dashed at the small and large purple dragon. She appeared again at the large dragon's side, looking for a place to sink her teeth into the small purple dragon without hurting her master.

She raised her paw, claws, unsheathed, and swatted the small purple dragon off her master's neck.

When the small dragon landed, Cynder heard a snap, and the small purple dragon screamed in pain. He tried to stand up, but it seemed that one of his front legs were broken, as he began to wobble and fell back down.

He finally was able to fly upward. Cynder decided to aim for a wing next so that the small dragon would be unable to fly and she could move in for the final blow, the death blow.

He flew around her head and swiped at her neck. Hot blood flowed down her neck, and she also screamed in true agony.

The large purple dragon tried to hit the smaller one, but he was less successful than Cynder had been in swatting the small purple dragon off.

Rage kept boiling Cynder's blood and she wanted so badly to just kill the small dragon.

In a final attempt, she released another fury, which succeeded in hitting the small purple dragon.

Cynder felt a tremble beneath her. She looked down, and to her horror, she saw that the altar was beginning to break apart.

Cracks spread in the stone surface. Both purple dragons seemed not to notice and engaged in another battle of their own. The very altar itself seemed to shake in the wake of their titanic struggle. It was fire against fire, Cynder observed carefully.

The flames of the small purple dragon were red-orange, while her master's was a dark purple, like her fire and her electricity.

Cynder moved forward and snapped at the small dragon. He was able to dodge again and swiped at her. Cynder took this chance to jump behind him. She snaked her head forward and sunk her teeth into his neck. She shook him from side to side and then, finally, she felt the small dragon's neck snap in her jaws. She released him and he dropped to the ground, dead.

Her master took a glance at the body of the dragon to make sure he was dead. When he was sure, a cold, deep laugh entered Cynder's ears.

Cynder woke with a start. She could feel sweat rolling down her face. The laugh still rang in her ears. She looked around and again saw the dark figure. He was laughing.

"Did you just do that to me?" she cried to him.

The dark figure, still laughing, answered, "Yes, I did. When you fell asleep, I decided to manipulate your mind to make you think that you killed the dragon you love."

Cynder was in true disbelief. Why did the dark figure do this to her? She didn't deserve it!

"I don't deserve this!" she said. "I just wanted to sleep! I wanted to have a nice, good sleep, and do so without any of my dreams!"

"You have had dreams like this before?" he asked.

"Yes, and that dream was the newest, and it's the one that I never want to see again!"

"Well, you should know that I am able to manipulate your mind at will, Cynder, and I will do so whenever I want. You can't stop me, and you don't have the right to."

What the heck does he mean? Cynder thought. "What do you mean that I don't have the right to?"

"I don't have to explain myself, you know, Cynder."

"Well, I want you to. If you don't, then I swear, I will break this chain and electrocute you until the day you die, which will be mine and the entire world's salvation."

"Well, salvation for you is probably very hard to come by, isn't it, Cynder? After all, that dark past and everything is weighing down on you. Soon enough, you will no longer be able to take it. It will consume you."

Cynder didn't believe any of what the dark figure was saying to her. None of it would become true, because Spyro would never allow such a bad thing to happen to her.

The dark figure got up and said, "I must go, Cynder. Please stay where you are, I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

He moved towards the door, staying to the shadows. As he approached the door, it swung wide open for him, allowing him to stay to the shadows and not go into the light.

Cynder put her head down again. She thought of Spyro and how he was doing without her. As she drifted off to sleep again, her last thought was:

I have to escape!


	11. Chapter 11: Escape Attempt

Chapter 11

Escape Attempt

Cynder opened her eyes a little, and observed her surroundings. It was night, and she did not see the dark figure anywhere around there.

Suddenly, the door opened. Cynder looked around and saw Glumshanks enter the room. He came over to her and told her, "I need to take off your chain so that I can check your neck for any abrasions. Try anything, and you will be knocked unconscious."

He undid the chain and then said, "Do you mind if I take of your choker?"

Cynder didn't answer. Instead, she raised her bladed tail and put it to Glumshanks's throat.

"Help!" Glumshanks yelled. Before he could do anything else, Cynder swept it across his throat, slitting it and killing him instantly.

She looked around for a place to go and saw an open window over in another corner of the room.

She went through it just as the door to the room opened. She heard the dark figure's voice say, "What happened? Where is she?"

Cynder heard another voice. "I don't know, master." It wasn't Kaos's, so she guessed that it must be a guard of the dark figure. "But it looks as if she killed Glumshanks. Looks like a blade to the throat, since his throat is slit."

"FIND HER!" ordered the dark figure.

"Y-yes, m-m-master," the guard stammered.

Cynder heard the footsteps leave the room. She now knew that she was in mortal danger.

Where should I go next? she thought to herself.

She thought of sending a message to Spyro and decided to find a messenger. If there was a messenger around here, then they would most certainly be somewhere in the castle, as even the dark figure needed a messenger to send messages to his allies. If he has any, Cynder thought to herself.

She opened her wings and flew to another tower. In it she saw a blue dragon who had a sachel hung over its shoulder. A messenger! Cynder thought.

She went around the tower and found an opening.

"Hello?" she called down to the messenger. The messenger looked up and appeared startled by Cynder's sudden appearance.

"What do you want?" asked the messenger, who was unmistakably a female dragon.

"Can I send a message to somebody?" Cynder inquired.

"Yes, I was just about to leave for the Ruins, then for Leviathan Lagoon. What is the message you want to send?"

"I have no time to write it down. If you can, look for a purple dragon named Spyro and tell him that I am here at this castle and that I need his help for something. Okay?"

"Yes, but where will I find him?"

"Do you know where the Core of Light is?"

"Yes, should I bring it there?"

"Yes, please," said Cynder. "Thank you. But now I must go."

She dashed away, yearning to leave the castle. Cynder knew that she could not immediately go to the Ruins, for the dark figure would have sent guards and sentries looking for her all throughout the castle and the castle grounds.

She saw that the next tower had lights on all around it. She would have to fly low to the ground to escape the eerie glare of the lights.

But flying low could expose her to any guards on the grounds if they shined a light upward. This was not the first time she wished that she had a dark black underbelly than her reddish-pink underbelly.

She knew that once she escaped, she would need to hide somewhere until she knew the dark figure's forces were gone from the area she was hiding in.

It was then that she heard the dreaded voice.

"Where are you, Cynder?" came the voice of the dark figure. "I need you to come back, you and I still have so much unfinished business."

Cynder dove underneath the lights of the tower. She saw the way she could go without being found out. But then she saw something that gave her both a good feeling and a pang of fear in her heart at the same time: another dragon was flying in front of the castle. Squinting, Cynder saw that the dragon was too big to be Spyro or any of the other dragon Skylanders or even Sonic Boom, for that matter.

Oh God, it's probably the dark figure, Cynder thought. She had to get past him so she could escape and get back to Spyro.

She looked sideways and saw a large rock face. If she could find a hole in it, then she could stay there until morning, then leave before the dark figure could get her.

Then she heard the shot. A dart whizzed right past her wing and almost hit it. The dart would've, had it not been for her moving a little to the right just seconds before the shot.

There was a second shot, and this time, it hit her wing. Blood spurted and dripped from the hole in her wing. She gasped in pain, and then her pain turned to fear as she heard a soldier roar, "I've found her! I've found her!"

"Where?" the dark figure roared back.

"Up in the sky. I shot a dart to get her down on the ground, but I think she's still up there!"

"You idiot!" snarled the dark figure. "You were not supposed to shoot her! If she fell, then she could die!"

The loud voices fell dilent and Cynder continued on flying to the rock face. But the pain in her wing was so unbearable that she almost fell out of the air.

That was when the dark figure appeared out of nowhere in front of her. His large paw hit her and the next thing she knew was a large pain in her wing. There was a loud snap, and Cynder knew her wing was broken.

Her vision flickered and the pain intensified even more. As a hot stream of blood entered her vision, Cynder blacked out.


	12. Chapter 12: The Dark Crystal

Chapter 12 

The Dark Crystal

Cynder heard the voices. One was deep, and another was lighter. She knew that the deeper one was the dark figure's, but the lighter voice she did not know. The dark figure's voice was filled with rage, and she knew that it was because of her attempt to escape the castle and get back to the Ruins.

When she opened her eyes, she saw the dark figure staring straight at her.

"So you're awake," he said, his voice trembling with rage.

"Yes, I am, and I want you to know that whatever you try to do to me, I don't give a crap about it," she snapped back.

She felt that the chain around her neck was back on. It didn't feel right, even with the choker still being on.

The dark figure seemed to be amused by her response. He leaned forward to her, and said, "You might not, but it does not matter anymore. In fact, soon enough, you will see what the true meaning of your life is, Cynder."

"You've said that so much, yet I have no idea what you mean by it. How's about you go and spill the secrets you have hidden within that dark heart of yours," she said.

"HA HA HA!" laughed the dark figure coldly. The laugh sent shivers down Cynder's spine. She decided to look at who was the other person in the room. She saw that it was a soldier of the dark figure. He was a large falcon. He had on his armor. The insignia for the dark figure's army was a claw that was digging into an unseen victim.

There was blood spurting from the unseen victim.

Cynder once again felt her rage and asked the dark figure, "What is he doing here?", motioning toward the soldier.

"He is here to help me," the dark figure answered. "And to help you."

"Help me?" said Cynder, astonished. "What do you mean, 'help me?'"

"You will find out soon enough, young Cynder." He turned to the soldier. "Can you go and get it for me, please? It's nigh time we do it."

The soldier happily nodded, took one glance at Cynder, gave her a devilish grin, and dashed out the door.

"Where is he going?" she inquired the dark figure.

"You will know soon enough, Cynder, soon enough," was the dark figure's reply. Cynder yearned to know even more of the dark figure's plans for her, but kept silent and waited for the soldier to return.

It was almost twenty minutes before she heard the footsteps of the soldier. When he opened the door, the soldier had a large purple crystal in his arms. Cynder recoiled. She was able to feel any crystal's energy, due to her exposure to the darkness. She could feel that this crystal radiated with dark energy.

"Get that thing away from me!" Cynder yelled. "I don't know what you're trying to pull, but this will never work on me!"

Both the dark figure and the soldier laughed. The dark figure glared into Cynder's blue eyes. For some reason, Cynder could not pull her gaze away from his. He seemed to be too strong.

He's manipulating me, she thought. This was cruel! Why the heck was he doing this to such a young dragon? Cynder kept pondering and pondering, but could not come to a conclusion.

The dark figure stopped laughing. The hood around his head was flowing, as if wind were blowing it. But how was that possible? There was no open window in sight.

He leaned toward the soldier and whispered something to him. The soldier nodded, then placed the dark crystal in front of Cynder.

She recoiled again and wished that she could break the chain and fully escape the castle.

The dark energy seemed to radiate out toward her and then began to consume her. She screamed and tried to escape the energy, but it was to no avail.

The dark figure resumed laughing again. As she was screaming, Cynder saw the dark figure take off his hood. For a moment she closed her eyes, just in case, but when she opened them again, she saw that she was staring right into the evil, pupil-less yellow eyes of her most ancient foe.


	13. Chapter 13: Leviathan Lagoon

Chapter 13

Leviathan Lagoon

Spyro was woken up by a ruffle of feathers. He looked up and saw Sunburn and Sonic Boom on his balcony.

"Hey, Spyro," greeted Sonic Boom. "How are you doing?"

"Good," Spyro grumbled sleepily. "So are you feeling all better since the fight with the person in red?"

"Yeah," she answered. "Good thing about Cali and Stealth Elf: they can mend almost any injury in only a few short hours."

"Yeah, that's true."

"Hey Spyro, when should we leave to go after the strangers?" asked Sunburn. "Like, where the heck should we even go?"

"Even after a bit of thought, I still have no idea where to go," Spyro admitted. "Although, I think we can start at Leviathan Lagoon."

"Why there?"

"I don't know, I just have a good feeling about it, you know what I mean?"

"No, not really," said Sonic Boom. She laughed a little. "Is Leviathan Lagoon one of the first places you ever saw Cynder when she was under the Dark Master's control?"

"No," Spyro answered. "But I was on her trail at the time. I went there to save a dragon guardian from the clutches of one of her minions."

"Where did you go after that?"

"I went to Stonetown. Turns out, the guardian wasn't there in Leviathan Lagoon but he was in Stonetown. So I went there and fought the Stone Sentinel, who was guarding the Guardian of Ice, Cyril."

"So it's to Leviathan Lagoon we go?" asked Sunburn.

"Yep," said Spyro. "Get the leaders of each element ready. We'll need all the help we can get for this."

Sunburn nodded and flew off. Sonic Boom stayed where she was, though. "Spyro," she said, "in all the years I've been a Skylander, I've never seen somebody go to this great length just to save somebody that they love."

"Many would have given up already, but I've decided not to. I just love Cynder too much, and that love for her will never end."

That was when the noise of wings sounded the return of Sunburn. He landed on the balcony and went over to Spyro.

"Stealth Elf and Cali say that we should bring at least one other Skylander from our element," he told him. "Who're you going to bring?"

Spyro thought for a moment, then said, "I'm not going to take anybody. You guys can, but I just want to be with Cynder right now, and I really wouldn't feel right if another Magic Skylander came with me."

"Fine," replied Sonic Boom. "I'll be taking Whirlwind. What about you and the others, Sunburn?"

"I'll be taking Ignitor. From what I saw, Stealth Elf will be taking Camo. Ever since she helped save Skylands from Kaos at his lair, he's been having a change of thought about Cynder."

Spyro nodded. "That's really good," he replied. He looked out of the window at the sky. "We should get down there. The others are probably already there."

They flew out of the window and went down to where the medical tents were. Those that were already there were Stealth Elf, Camo, Whirlwind, Ignitor, Bash, Terrafin, Trigger Happy, Drobot, Hex, Chop Chop, Gill Grunt, and Zap.

"So you are all the guys that are going?" asked Spyro.

"Yeah," answered Camo. "Is that so wrong?"

"No, not at all. It's just that I didn't expect some of you on this trip, you know?"

"Yeah, that's true," admitted Camo. "I'm going because, after fighting alongside Cynder back in Kaos's lair, I thought that she really wasn't all bad. Just to tell you, I am officially on you and Cynder's side."

Spyro nodded. "Alright. Can one of you go and see if Gurglefin is wanting to take us to Leviathan Lagoon?"

Stealth Elf volunteered, and then left, walking at a brisk pace down to the beach and the docks.

After a few minutes, she came back with Gurglefin, a blue Gillman, the same species as Gill Grunt.

"Well, are we going to Leviathan Lagoon or not?" grumbled Gurglefin.

"Yeah, we are," Spyro replied. "Come on, let's go."

They went down to the beach. The ship that had been used to bring Spyro and the other Skylanders to Oilspill Island, Dark Water Cove, and then Leviathan Lagoon was waiting there for them at the docks.

"Alright, hop aboard!" ordered the Gillman.

Once they were up on the ship, Gurglefin jumped up on himself. He went straight to the wheel that helped to steer the ship and took hold of it. He began to spin it and Spyro felt the ship beginning to turn from the docks and to the large open sea nearby.

Once the ship was facing the sea, Gurglefin made the ship go at a fast pace, and soon enough, the ship was at the edge of the waterfall. Once the ship fell off, it would end up at a three-way path that led to Oilspill Island, Dark Water Cove, and Leviathan Lagoon. The right and left led to Oilspill Island and Dark Water Cove, while the middle one led straight to Leviathan Lagoon.

Gurglefin took the middle one and, by then, Spyro knew that they were one step closer to finding Cynder, the dragoness he loved.

At the time that Leviathan Lagoon was in sight, the sun was high in the sky.

The water below was a dark green color. Spyro stood at the stern of the ship, taking in the view. Vast islands dotted the horizon, punctured only by the puffy white clouds. There was a slight, soundless breeze. The absence of sound was only punctured by the occasional flapping of seagulls' wings, who flew high above the water to avoid becoming prey for the dangerous fish below: the Leviathan.

If anybody went too deep into the water, then the Leviathan would swallow them up and they would never be heard from again.

Stealth Elf strided up to Spyro. Her dragon fang daggers were sheathed. "See anything, Spyro?" she asked.

"No, but I do hope that we'll be able to find Cynder and then save her," he replied.

"Me too," she said.

The shore of one of the islands grew closer, and then Gurglefin called out, "The shore is coming closer! Get ready to get off!"

At that time, there was a grinding sound and the ship halted to a stop. Gurglefin opened the gate of the ship and then lowered the drawbridge that would allow the Skylanders to get off.

Spyro and the others got off in single file order. Once they were all off, Gurglefin closed up the gate.

"Hey, when should I come back?" he asked.

"Go back to the Ruins and tell Cali to send us a message that says when you and her will be coming back to get us," Spyro answered.

Gurglefin nodded and then went to the wheel. He turned the ship away and in a matter of minutes, the ship was nothing but a fuzzy outline in the noonday horizon.

Spyro turned around and looked around for a place where they could he saw the barricades around the island. One of the Gillmen, a yellow elder named Otoro, sat near the Shrine, where four statues were lined up.

Spyro went over to Otoro. "Hey Otoro," he greeted. "How's it going?"

Without turning around, Otoro answered, "Leviathan Lagoon is preparing for a war, Spyro. Two strangers arrived yesterday with a large army and told us that we will be attacked tomorrow."

Spyro felt sorry for Otoro, and in turn, the entire Gillman population of Leviathan Lagoon.

"We'll help you," Spyro volunteered. "We came here to see if we can find a missing friend of ours. Did you, by chance, see if the strangers were dressed in black cloaks and if they had anybody that looked like a prisoner on the ship with them?"

"Well," said Otoro, "I do think they had on black cloaks. In fact, everything they wore was black, but I'm sorry to say, there was nobody that looked like a prisoner on the ship."

Spyro's heart sank; where in the world was Cynder?

It was at that time that Otoro turned around. He was wearing his usual brown duffle coat. "Did you bring anybody else with you?"

"Yeah, I brought fourteen others with me. Why do you ask?"

"I think we may have enough room for you and the others in our camp. Do you want to rest there?"

"Yeah, I think we can. Are you sure you don't mind?"

"Yes, we don't mind. We need all the help we can get with the strangers and their army. In fact, we were about to send somebody to go get you guys tomorrow. No need for that now."

Spyro laughed. "Yeah," he said. "I guess you don't."

"Well then," Otoro said, "come on, let's go and get those friends of yours, then leave for camp."

They padded back to where the fourteen other Skylanders stood.

"We're going to sleep and drink and eat in camp tonight! Otoro has offered us this!"

The others cheered. Otoro led them to another island that was linked to the rest by a bridge.

The camp soon came into view. Many of the Gillmen were male, a few female, and all of them were carrying weapons with them.

When the Gillmen caught sight of the Skylanders, a cheer went up. Spyro smiled to himself.

Otoro showed each one of them a tent. Bash, Terrafin, and Ignitor went in one, Stealth Elf, Whirlwind, and Camo in another, Trigger Happy, Drobot and Chop Chop for another, Trigger Happy, Gill Grunt, and Hex for another, and finally, Spyro, Sunburn, and Sonic Boom in the last one.

As they were setting themselves up in the tent, Sunburn asked, "So what are we going to do here, Spyro?"

"Well, it seems that the strangers are here," said Spyro. "That's why there are so many barricades around the islands." Sunburn nodded. "But the only problem: the strangers don't have Cynder."

Sunburn's mouth dropped open. "Wait, what?" he gasped. "But how is that possible?"

"Who knows?" said Sonic Boom, joining in on the conversation.

"So that means that we'll be able to defeat the strangers, and then we'll have to go somewhere else to find Cynder."

Sonic Boom went over to him. "Spyro," she said, "we will find Cynder. We will save her from whoever the heck kidnapped her. Do not lose hope of finding her yet. Do not give up hope."

Spyro nodded. He then peered out the tent and saw Hex gliding across the grass.

He ran out and tried to see where she was going. "Hey Hex!" he called. "Where are you going?"

She whirled around, raised her right hand, a phantom orb in the palm, and then saw Spyro. She lowered her hand and the phantom orb disappeared entirely.

"Oh, it's just you, Spyro," she said. "I was just going over to the shrine. You want to come with me?"

"Nah," declined Spyro. "I'm going to sleep soon. I just wondered where you were going."

"Yeah, that's understandable. I'm only going over there so I can have some alone time. See ya later Spyro."

Spyro went back to his tent.

"What was out there?" asked Sunburn.

"Just Hex," Spyro answered. "I'm going to get some sleep guys. We'll probably have to wake up early so we can stop the strangers, you know?"

"Yeah, I agree with you, Spyro," said Sonic Boom. "I'm going to do the same. Maybe you should, too, Sunburn. All of us need to save up our energy for tomorrow's battle."

"Yeah, I will, but first, I'm going to go and see if they have any food," he told them. "I'll see you guys later." Sunburn left the tent.

Spyro curled up in his small bed and, as he drifted off to sleep, he thought one thing:

Where in the world was Cynder?


	14. Chapter 14: The Message

Chapter 14

The Message

Spyro went around the island, flapping his wings. That was when he heard the call.

"There's a messenger!" someone yelled. "There's a messenger!"

Spyro stopped flying and landed next to Sunburn, who was also waiting for the messenger.

A blue dragon appeared. It had a sachel hung over its left shoulder. "Alright," it said. The voice was obviously a female's. "I have three messages for Leviathan Lagoon." She took out three letters. "Which one of you is Otoro?" she asked.

Otoro stepped up. "I am right here. Is the message for me?"

"Yes," answered the blue dragoness. "Okay, now for the second letter. Which one of you is Stealth Elf?"

Stealth Elf appeared almost out of thin air. "I am here. Is the message from the Ruins?"

"It most certainly is. Now for the final one. Which one of you is named Spyro?"

Spyro was surprised when his name was called. He stepped forward.

"Yes?" he asked.

"I have one message for you, from a black dragoness." She cleared her throat, then said, "She said for me to tell you that she is in the castle near the realm of Concurrent Skies. She also said that she needs your help."

It was a few moments of silence before it was broken again, this time by Stealth Elf.

"Is that the message?" she asked.

"Yes," answered the messenger. "It is." She turned around and opened her wings. "I will come back in about three to four days if there is another message. If not, then you will not see me. Good day."

As she flew away, Stealth Elf and the other Skylanders went over to Spyro, who was still in shock.

"Spyro?" whispered Whirlwind, a unicorn-dragon hybrid. "Are you okay?"

"So now we know where to go to find Cynder," Spyro told them all.

"Have you ever been over by Concurrent Skies?" asked Hex.

"Yes, I have," Spyro said. "In the middle of the Concurrent Sea, which is the only body of water near Concurrent Skies, there is an island that holds a fortress on top of it."

"Who's fortress is that?" inquired Sunburn.

"It was Cynder's," Spyro replied. "When she was evil."

"Cynder was evil?" gasped Whirlwind and Camo at the same time.

Spyro sighed, and began the story once again:

"She was. When she was just an egg, an evil dragon named Malefor, or the Dark Master, as he's also known, ordered his army to steal a dragon egg so that he could get stronger on what he called his 'Quest for Power.' His army came back with an egg, which turned out to be Cynder's egg.

"He corrupted her, which, as we all know, is very cruel for him to have done. Years later, I faced her and him in a strange realm known as Convexity. I defeated her and she returned to her real form, which is the young dragoness you have always seen at the Ruins. Malefor escaped, though. Since then, all has been well... until now."

Hex came in after that. "I actually faced Malefor later in the Underworld. After a fight, I left him terribly wounded. Who knows where he is now..." She trailed off.

Stealth Elf said to Whirlwind and Camo, "If you have ever noticed, when somebody angers Cynder, she gets all mean, and it's because of her past that she is like that. Am I right, Spyro?"

"You are," he answered. "She deserves a second chance, and I am one of the few who will give that second chance to her."

"I will give her a second chance," volunteered Camo.

"So will I," Whirlwind said.

Spyro nodded thankfully and then went back over to his tent. Then he saw Otoro over at the Shrine again, holding the letter in his hand, his entire body shaking with-what? Rage? Fear? Spyro could not tell.

"Otoro, what's wrong?" Spyro asked once he got over to the Shrine.

"It's this letter," answered the yellow Gillman. "It says that the strangers have decided to attack tomorrow! We don't have enough time to prepare!"

"You underestimate yourself, Otoro," Spyro told him. "We can use our skills in the battle, and then we can probably win against the strangers and their army."

"Yes, I forgot about that. We most certainly can use that against them. They won't know what to do with you guys here!"

Spyro laughed, but it was not a true laugh. It was more of a grim laugh, because he had been hoping that a battle would not have be fought while he was there.

"So what will happen when this battle begins?"

"Battle? Oh no, I believe that this 'battle' should be called a siege instead."

Spyro secretly agreed. Then he saw Stealth Elf reading the letter from Cali. He made his way over to her. "What's the letter say?" he asked.

"It says that she'll be sending Gurglefin back with the ship in about three days," she answered.

"Well, that won't work out, will it?"

"Maybe not for some of you, like Sunburn, you, and Sonic Boom. But for those like me, Ignitor, Trigger Happy, Zap, and Gill Grunt, we can't fly. After this, you guys can fly over to that castle, and then find Cynder. But we can't, because of not being able to fly. I'm going to send her back a message that will say to take us back. You guys can go on and save Cynder, and we'll be waiting back at the Ruins, waiting for you and the others to return with Cynder."

Spyro looked around, and then said to her, "It feels so strange. It's like this is the calm before the storm, and after this, there will be no playing around, and the storm will break."

She nodded. "It does seem that way, doesn't it?"

She walked away. Spyro was left standing there, pondering about how he was going to battle each stranger.

He decided that he would get some sleep before the possibly long and grueling battle the next day.

He padded heavily into his tent and lay down. He then drifted off into sleep. It seemed that he had not gotten much when he felt somebody shaking him.

He opened his eyes and saw that Sonic Boom was in front of the tent. It had been Sunburn shaking him awake.

"What's happenining?" asked Spyro groggily.

"Spyro, you need to wake up," said Sunburn.

"Why?"

It was Sonic Boom who answered.

"Because, Spyro, the siege has just begun."


	15. Chapter 15: Seige of Leviathan Lagoon

Chapter 15

Siege of Leviathan Lagoon

Spyro leapt up and dashed out the opening of the tent. Sure enough, the siege had begun.

Fire sprouted in clumps across the islands. Gillmen and the members of the strangers' army battled each other. Blood sparkled on the ground. The blood came from dead bodies that lay across the ground.

It seemed, also, that blood darkened the surface of the lagoon. Instead of its usual clear, sparkly blue, it was a dark shade of red.

A giant ship was in the middle of two islands, blasting away at the Gillmen, not afraid of who else the cannon balls would hit.

Spyro flew at the ship and shot his usual three fireballs at the crew on the ship. Though two of the fireballs missed all on the deck, little flames sprouted upon the deck. The middle of the three fireballs hit the mast.

The mast swayed, then creaked and fell. Because of that, a member of the strangers' army was killed by the height of the fall, and another was crushed by the mast itself.

The flames on the mast caught the deck on fire, and soon the entire ship was on fire.

The ship began to sink into the lagoon. Spyro allowed a grim smile to himself, then flew off to help out more with the siege.

Stealth Elf was on the ground, slaying the evil army's soldiers with her dragon fang daggers. Blood coated itself on the fangs.

Sonic Boom was firing blasts of sound shockwave at the soldiers. They clutched their bleeding ears. While they fell to their knees, Sunburn used his Phoenix Dash and appeared next to them, then incinerated the soldiers.

The others were busy with twenty-five Cyclops Mammoths who were off their leashes, which was when they were most dangerous.

"Go for the face!" Spyro roared to them from up in the air.

To help them out, he shot another three fireballs at the Cyclops Mammoths. One of the Cyclops Mammoths were killed by one, while two of the others were seriously injured.

Camo blasted one of the Mammoths with his Sun Burst. A tiny sun flew out of his mouth and when it hit the Cyclops Mammoth, the beast was suddenly turned to ashes.

More and more ships arrived. At the time that the sun was high in the sky, the siege was still going on. More and more blood splattered the ground and darkened the water.

One boat came around from the side with the Shrine. As it neared the bridge, the Leviathan came up and swallowed it whole.

Spyro was wounded many times during the siege. The first was a thin scar on his chest, then his wing was pierced, then came a scratch above his eye that bled profusely, and finally a soldier punched him in the nose, causing a bloody nose.

The siege seemed to last for hours when one of the Gillmen yelled out, "They're retreating! They're retreating!"

"What?" called Spyro. "What do you mean?"

"They are retreating!" came the voice again. "I don't know why, but they are retreating!"

Spyro looked at the strangers' army, and sure enough, they were retreating. "He's right!" Spyro yelled. "But don't let your guard down! We probably haven't seen the last of this yet!"

That was when he saw the large ship appear in the lagoon. He almost certainly knew that it was the ship that had the strangers.

"Attack the ship!" Spyro ordered. "Attack the ship!"

The Gillmen listened to him, then raised their weapons and charged at the ship. Many of them brought out a large catapult and began putting rocks into it to launch at the attack ship.

As one catapulted toward the ship, the ship turned sideways, but it was already too late.

Wood splintered as the large rock met its destination. But the ship was not sinking. Even as the Gillmen shot harpoons and bombs at the ship, it did not catch fire and it did not sink.

What the heck is going on? thought Spyro.

Cannon balls shot out from cannons hidden within the ship, and many of the Gillmen were hit and killed.

Spyro felt the rage boiling up inside him at the sight of the death of some of his allies.

He sped like a bullet toward the ship and spit as many fireballs at it as he could. Unlike the other attacks, flames sprouted up on the length of the ship. Crew members scrambled for safety as debris fell from the crow's nest and mast above. Many were unlucky and were crushed by the flaming debris. Dark splotches spread across the deck. It was the blood from the dead bodies of the crew.

The remaining Gillmen and the Skylanders cheered as the ship caught fire.

That was when Spyro saw the two figures cloaked in clothing as black as night.

Almost at once, Spyro knew they were the strangers. This was it. This was the last battle before going to save Cynder.

Spyro charged at the ship again and landed right on the deck. The strangers stood motionless in the same place. Both of them watched Spyro with an unwavering glare. Yellow eyes peeked out from under the hood. It occurred to Spyro that both of the strangers were the same size. It had just been hard to tell back in Shattered Island, but now it was easy to tell their true size and shape.

Spyro edged around the perimeter of the ship's railing, looking for any signs of weakness in the strangers' eyes. But there was none. The yellow eyes stayed expressionless.

Finally, one of the strangers said, "So where is your girlfriend, Skylander? Weren't able to find her in the Underworld, eh?"

"I know who you work for," Spyro told them.

"And so who do we work for?" asked the other stranger.

"You work for the dark figure, who kidnapped the dragoness I love," Spyro answered.

One of the strangers then pointed a long, bony finger at Spyro and rasped, "This is where you meet your end, Skylander!"


	16. Chapter 16: Not Even Begun

Chapter 16

Not Even Begun

The stranger who had said that stepped forward and then lunged at Spyro, his bony fingers outstretched like the claws of an animal.

Spyro dodged, then shot the stranger with a single fireball, but the stranger did not fall to the ground. The stranger stumbled a little, but then recovered and took out his sword. He drew out a sword from a sheath hidden somewhere in the cloak.

He charged again and slashed the blade downward. It missed by inches. Spyro thought to himself, I need to be much more careful. I don't want to die before I rescue Cynder.

The stranger closed his other hand tightly, and when he opened it, there was a ball of fire in the palm of his gloved hand.

He launched it at Spyro, who evaded sideways and then launched his own fireballs. All missed again.

When can I get a good shot? Spyro thought again.

That was when Stealth Elf jumped onto the ship. Her dragon fang daggers were coated even more heavily in dark, sticky blood.

She stared from the strangers to Spyro, then loosed a savage war cry and leapt at the other stranger.

He dodged all but one of the slashes from the dragon fang daggers, but the last one caught his robe and cut his back. Blood dripped from the hem of the cloak as the stranger stared up at the sky and roared in pain.

The roar sent shivers down Spyro's spine: it did not sound regular at all.

In fact, it sounded as if it came from an evil creature that was not from the realm of Skylands, but more from the realm known as the Outlands.

That stranger then looked from left to right and ran for it. He jumped off the ship. Stealth Elf followed.

Spyro knew that he would have to help his friend soon, but for right now, he would have to find out where he could attack the other stranger without betraying to the stranger where he was going.

Spyro looked at the stranger's leg, but he was really aiming for the shoulder, and then he lunged.

The stranger didn't realize where Spyro was going, and moved his leg, but then wished he hadn't as Spyro jumped onto his shoulder. Spyro ripped and tore at the stranger's shoulder. Specks of blood flew everywhere.

The stranger screamed. Spyro jumped off. Suddenly, the stranger's yellow eyes turned blood-red.

Fear gripped Spyro. Was this stranger more powerful than most of his other villains, even more so than Malefor and, when she was under Malefor's control, Cynder?

"No, I won't think of that," Spyro told himself.

The stranger thrusted his sword at Spyro again. This time, he came close to hitting Spyro, but Spyro got out of the way just in time.

Spyro saw the amethyst jewel in the pommel of the sword and instantly knew that the sword was not his. The sword had been the great Portal Master, Eon's, sword.

He had put the jewel into the pommel when Spyro became a Skylander. The amethyst was partly black because of Eon trusting Cynder, knowing it wasn't her fault she had been corrupted by Malefor, and knowing of Spyro's love for the black dragoness. It had supposedly been lost in a battle famously known as the Battle of the Outlands.

"You stole that sword!" exclaimed Spyro. "Where the heck did you get it?"

The stranger took a moment before answering. "My master gave it to me. He stole it from the battlegrounds of the Outlands after escaping from one of his battles."

"Who is your master?" asked Spyro. "And has he had Kaos as one of his soldiers, along with the person in red?"

"Yes, he has," the stranger told him. "And what has happened of them, Skylander?"

"Kaos is unconscious in the Underworld, and the person in red was incinerated by the 'hybrid', as you called him."

"Why you little creature, I will rip you apart, bone by bone, and then once I eat your flesh, I will suck the marrow from your bones!"

Spyro just laughed at the stranger's threat.

Obviously angered, the stranger ran for the railing, and then jumped off. Spyro followed, also jumping off the ship. He saw the bloody water glisten in the afternoon light.

As he ran, he thought, I'm one step closer to finding Cynder.

But then he saw a horrid sight. Stealth Elf lay on the ground, blood seeping from a cut on her head. She was unconscious. The other stranger stood over her, his sword raised.

Spyro let his rage overtake him and he dashed over to his friend, guarding her body.

The stranger laughed. "Are you going to defeat me by yourself, Skylander?" he rasped.

"No, he's not," came a voice. Spyro turned around and saw Sunburn, followed by Sonic Boom. Both seemed unharmed.

"Well, then we must see who will win in this battle," said the stranger.

"Let's go, then," Sunburn challenged, getting in his defensive stance. Sonic Boom did the same. Spyro followed suit.

They circled the stranger, ready for the upcoming battle.

The stranger laughed a cold, deep laugh. The laugh never seemed to reach his yellow eyes.

"Are you ready for this?" asked Spyro. "It's time we end this fight, now and forever."

Another laugh came from the stranger's mouth. "Why, my dear delusional purple dragon, the fight hasn't even begun."

Spyro wondered what the stranger meant, but before he could, he had to dodge as a sword came down close beside him.

Slash after slash followed. Spyro dodged them all. He was too fast for the stranger.

The stranger became flustered by the fact that he could not land a hit.

As he raised the sword again, a claw appeared from out of his chest. The stranger sputtered for a moment, then collapsed to the ground. Blood leaked out from all aound him.

Right there, standing behind where the stranger had been seconds before, was Cali.


	17. Chapter 17: Stranger One

Chapter 17

Stranger One

"Cali, what the heck are you doing here?" asked Spyro, astonished by what she had just done.

"I'm here because I thought that you guys might need some help," she explained. "I brought some help with me, too."

Stealth Elf stirred, then put her hand to her head to stop the bleeding. She picked up one of her dragon fang daggers. One of them was not there.

"Where's my other dagger?" she grumbled.

Cali held it up. "Here you go," she said. "I guess this guy must've thrown it over there."

"Thanks," Stealth Elf said. "But how or who brought you here?"

"Gurglefin brought us here. It's nearing the third day, and you said that you should be picked up by the third day, so we decided to come today instead."

Then there was another grumble. Spyro looked down and saw the stranger stirring.

How is that even possible? Cali and Skylanders present thought to themselves. After all, Cali had thrust a dagger into the vital part of his chest. He shouldn't even be moving after that! In fact, he should be dead!

He got to his feet. There was a bloody hole in the middle of his chest. The hood around his head had slipped off a little bit, revealing a bit off black fur, meaning that the strangers were animals.

"How the heck are you still alive?" asked Spyro.

"Only a stab through the heart can kill me, Skylander," answered the stranger. "You really are not the most intelligent of your kind, even though you are a purple dragon."

Sunburn ran forward. "You need to shut up," he said. "Spyro is better than any of us, and that can be proved by the fact that he has not lost hope while on the quest to find the dragoness he loves, Cynder."

"She will forever rot under the darkest influences, hybrid," the stranger evilly rasped.

"What the heck does that mean?"

"You will probably never know, because I will never tell you of my master's plans, hybrid!"

"Who the heck is your master?" interrupted Spyro. "You've mentioned him so much, and I just want to know who this master really is! Why don't you just spill your secrets!"

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The stranger roared with laughter. "Oh, Skylander, you are so delusional. Will you ever realize that I won't give up my secrets without a fight?"

"Then why don't you and I just battle it out, then?" said Sunburn.

"Well, that won't work, hybrid. You know that you will lose in a fight like that. No one person or creature has been able to defeat me, except for my brother and my master."

"Is your brother the other stranger?" Spyro inquired.

"Yes, he is," answered the stranger. "It will be amazing if you can beat either of us, hybrid."

"Then so be it." Sunburn leapt at the stranger, but unlike Spyro, his eyes betrayed where he was going and the stranger moved away. The stranger stabbed down, then missed as Sunburn used his phoenix dash to get away from the stranger.

Sunburn spit flames at the stranger, but the stranger caught the blasts in his hand.

"How did you do that?" gasped Sonic Boom, astonished.

"I was taught by my master to do so. What else can you try on me, hybrid, eh?"

"How 'bout this!" Sonic Boom snarled. She jumped at the stranger and let out a blast of soundwaves. The stranger covered his ears and screamed like a banshee. The scream was high and cold, and sounded like claws scraping across the surface of a blackboard.

Soon enough, even Sonic Boom had to cover her ears due to the combined force of her and the stranger's screams.

The stranger stopped screaming. He took his hands off his head. Spyro could see blood glistening on his hands.

Sonic Boom stopped screaming, too, then circled the stranger. Sunburn and Spyro could see that her eyes were wide open and fearful, as if she were afraid of what was about to happen.

"Sonic Boom, what's wrong?" Sunburn asked, concerned for her.

"It's like there's a spell that's been put on me. It's like, while I had courage a second ago, I have fear all of a sudden and I can't get rid of my fear."

Spyro knew what kind of feeling that was. The stranger had an ability to get into an opponent's head. He had gone through it himself with Dark Spyro, and Cynder had gone through it with the Dark Master.

No, I won't think of that, Spyro thought again.

The stranger moved forward, his sword pointing at Sonic Boom's chest. He raised his sword again, but Sonic Boom dodged the blow.

Sonic Boom screamed again, the soundwaves strong enough to rip bits of clothing off the stranger's cloak.

"AHHHHH!" the stranger roared in agony.

"Take that, you two-faced freak!" Sonic Boom said.

Sunburn dashed to the other side of the stranger and clawed the stranger's side, leaving bloody marks in the stranger's body.

The stranger couldn't stop screaming as Sunburn tore at him even more and Sonic Boom heightened the frequency of her screams.

Cali took out her own dagger and began moving towards the stranger and Sunburn and Sonic Boom. But every time she stepped toward the stranger, she moved back.

"Cali, what's going on?" Spyro inquired her.

"The screams are too loud for my ears," she told him.

Spyro nodded and moved toward the fight. The stranger was bleeding terribly, and luckily, neither Sunburn or Sonic Boom were injured.

Sonic Boom stopped in mid-scream. She panted as if she had just flown a hundred miles. The stranger fell to his knees, the blood flowing from underneath his cloak at a fast pace, pouring onto the ground.

Cali found her chance, raised the dagger, and moved toward the stranger, who cowered in fear.

"Please, do not kill me," pleaded the stranger. "I do not deserve to die, so please, do not kill me."

Spyro stepped up. "If you tell us what's happening to Cynder, then we may reconsider killing you."

The stranger began laughing again. "I can't reveal anything like that, Skylander. Please do not kill me."

Cali raised the dagger, took hold of the stranger's robe, and forced the dagger right through his heart. The stranger sputtered a little, then fell onto the ground, now and forever, once and for all, dead.


	18. Chapter 18: Stranger Two

**This chapter is dedicated to ZACH. Hope you get better bro! Btw, I hope you're driving us to a hospital. LOL! :D**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 18<span>

Stranger Two

Spyro looked down at the first stranger's body. His blood pooled out around him like a pool getting filled up with water.

So this is what happens when you confront an enemy like this, Spyro thought to himself.

He could still remember the stranger's last words as he pleaded to everybody not to kill him:

"I can't reveal anyting like that, Skylander. Please do not kill me."

Spyro felt guilt for killing the stranger, but he just didn't know why. Was this what happened to a warrior, or was he just weak?

He could feel his legs starting to tremble. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to see Sunburn looking at him with compassion and tiredness.

"You feeling okay, Sunburn?" Spyro asked, seeing the tiredness in his friend's eyes.

"Yeah, just tired of fighting, is all," Sunburn answered.

"Maybe you should go lay down while we find and defeat the last stranger. Go on, we got all of this under control. You and Sonic Boom."

"No, thanks," said Sunburn. "I think I'll be able to go on."

Spyro sighed. He was weakened by exhaustion, his eyes drooping to a much lower level.

But he couldn't stop now. The second and last stranger was still out there, and Spyro wouldn't stop until that stranger was defeated once and for all.

He padded over to Otoro, who had a deep gash on his shoulder, which was now being bandaged by Cali.

He had a grim look on his face.

"Otoro, what is it?" Spyro asked.

"Leviathan Lagoon has now been touched by blood, something that we hoped would never happen," he explained. He turned to Spyro. "Please kill that last stranger for me and for the rest of my people. If not for you and all the Skylanders, all would have been lost. When you kill the last stranger, make sure that you feed him to the leviathan itself."

Otoro turned away. Cali then looked at Spyro with her deep, piercing blue eyes. "So you're going to have to find the last stranger now?"

Spyro nodded. "Once we do, we'll have to go to the sea near Concurrent Skies to locate a castle. In that castle will be Cynder, and in that will be the person or creature who took her from me."

Cali still stared at him. "You know that some of us won't be able to go to that castle, right, Spyro?" she asked.

"Yeah, Stealth Elf told me that," answered Spyro. "I think that Sunburn and Sonic Boom will be two of those who'll go with me, and so will Whirlwind. If he can, I think Camo might."

"I thought Camo and Whirlwind didn't trust Cynder? At least, Whirlwind said she didn't soon after we defeated Kaos last year."

"She changed her mind soon after we decided to leave for Leviathan Lagoon. Camo decided that he would trust her during the final battle with Kaos last year."

Cali remained silent, then said, "So where do you think the other stranger went?"

Spyro shook his head. "I don't know. We'll go after him soon, but I don't know where he went."

Otoro spoke up again. "Maybe you should try the Shrine," he suggested.

"That's a good idea!" exclaimed Cali. "It makes sense, because there is a legend that says if the four statues are aligned, and you give the Shrine a blood price, then the Shrine will give you the power of immortality."

"Do you think that's what he wants?" inquired Spyro.

"I'd bet so, Spyro. You'd better hurry, if that _is_ what he wants. If he's done the blood price already, then there's no stopping him," Otoro explained.

Spyro ran over to Sunburn and Sonic Boom. He told them what was about to happen.

"Come on, let's go!" he said.

They nodded and they dashed toward the Shrine, hoping that the stranger had not done the blood price yet.

The Shrine soon came into sight as they neared the end of one of the bridges that linked the islands together.

The stranger stood on the Shrine, holding up one arm, holding a knife in the other hand, and from the looks of it, he was preparing to perform the blood price to get the power of immortality.

"NO!" Sonic Boom shouted.

The stranger, who had been oblivious to their arrival seconds before, looked at the three Skylanders in front of him. Spyro could tell that he was smiling.

"Well, well, well," he rasped. "It seems that this truly is the beginning of the end, eh?"

"What do you mean?" Sunburn said.

"I mean that I will soon become immortal, just as soon as I perform this blood price. And you three will be unable to stop me. Welcome to your end, Skylanders! HA HA HA HA!"

Sunburn leaped at the stranger, snatching the knife out of the stranger's hand, much to the stranger's surprise.

Sunburn kept the knife clutched in his claws. He had a plan in mind, but he wasn't going to use it until the end of the battle.

"Lead him over to the dock," Sunburn whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

Out of the corner of both his eyes, he could see Spyro and Sonic Boom nod.

Spyro edged around the island, looking for a weakness on the stranger. The stranger watched him back, also giving glances over to Sunburn and the knife in Sunburn's claws.

Sonic Boom did the same as Spyro, her green eyes watching every part of the stranger.

A roar ripped from Spyro's lips and he lunged at the stranger's throat. The stranger dodged, leading him right over to the dock.

Sonic Boom released a blast of sound waves, and the stranger covered his ears, hoping to escape the potency of the sound.

The final stranger stumbled backward, onto the dock. Sunburn took flight, and while up in the air, he flew over to the dock and threw the knife, which landed right on the edge of the dock.

The stranger leaped for his knife, but just as his hand clasped around the hilt, the leviathan jumped out of the water, destroying the dock and swallowing the stranger whole, leaving nothing behind but a whirlpool of swirling blood.


	19. Chapter 19: The Portal

Chapter 19

The Portal

Spyro, Sunburn, and Sonic Boom could only watch as the final stranger's body disappeared underneath the surface of the water.

"Oh my God," Sonic Boom whispered. "I can't believe that this just happened!"

Spyro couldn't believe his eyes either. The swirling blood soon disappeared too, and then the cloak of the stranger popped up in the water.

Spyro looked down. His cheeks stung from unexpected guilt. Why did he feel this way?

He realized now that he was one step closer to finding Cynder. He longed so much to be with the dragoness he loved again.

He hoped that she was alright. All he had to do now was fly across the sea to a castle near the realm of Concurrent Skies. He knew the realm well because he had faced Cynder at her fortress there.

Sunburn and Sonic Boom started walking away. Spyro noticed and soon followed them back to the camp.

Otoro stood at the head of the island, watching as the three made their way into the camp. "What happened? Was he able to perform the blood price, or were you able to stop him?" he asked.

"We were able to stop him," Sunburn answered.

"And so where is the stranger now?" Otoro continued.

"He died during the battle. While we were fighting, I threw a knife at the edge of the dock out there by the Shrine, and when the stranger went to get it, the leviathan jumped out of the water. It snapped the stranger up and killed him. All that was left of him was his black cloak."

"So what will you do now?" asked Cali, coming up beside Otoro. "Because those that can't fly to the castle near Concurrent Skies will have to be taken back now that the battle of Leviathan Lagoon is over."

It was Spyro who answered. "Yeah, we're going to leave in a few minutes for Concurrent Skies. Do you guys think that's a good idea?"

"Yeah," Sonic Boom told him. "But we should first see who's going to be coming with us."

Spyro nodded and walked into the full part of the camp. The other Skylanders were sitting around a campfire.

Those that Cali had brought with her were Zook, Hugo, Flynn, Eruptor and Ghost Roaster.

"Okay, so me, Sunburn, and Sonic Boom have decided to go across the sea that links Leviathan Lagoon to the realm known as Concurrent Skies," Spyro announced. "And we're going to be looking for a castle that we know Cynder is being held captive in. We're going to save her, then come back to the Ruins with her. But before we leave for the castle, we wanted to know: Do any of you want to accompany us to save Cynder?"

Hex raised her hand. So did Camo and Whirlwind.

"The only problem with you going, Hex," said Sonic Boom, "is that you cannot fly, get what I mean?"

"Yeah, but being a witch, I can make myself fly," Hex explained.

"And Camo," Sonic Boom continued, "you can't fly either."

"He can be on my back," volunteered Whirlwind.

"Anybody else?" said Sunburn.

Drobot raised his hand. "I am only going because I believe that no Skylander should be left behind," Drobot told them all.

Spyro nodded. He knew that nobody else could (or would) go. Although Trigger Happy and Gill Grunt trusted Cynder, and so did the rest of the Undead element, none of them could fly, and they were too heavy for any of the others who could fly to carry.

"Trigg, Gill," Spyro said to them, "you guys won't be able to come."

"We know, Spyro," they both admitted.

"We'll just wait for you and Cynder and the others to return," Trigger Happy told Spyro.

Spyro smiled at his best friends and then turned away. He was ready now, to save the dragoness he loved, to end the monster who took her from him, and to restore peace in Skylands that had been taken away when the strangers had begun the siege on Leviathan Lagoon.

He went back over to Cali and Otoro. He announced to them, "I think, if it's alright with the others, we're going to leave for the castle right now."

"Now?" said Cali. "But it'll be dark soon. Why go now, Spyro?"

"Because we'll be able to get a little way over to the castle before stopping. The less time there is between us and the castle tomorrow, the better."

Cali sighed. "If you wish," she told him, then walked away.

Spyro went to the campfire again and told those who would be going with him of the time that they would leave.

"I agree with you, Spyro," Hex told him. "What about the rest of you guys?"

They all agreed and nodded, signaling their approval. Spyro then went on with, "I guess we're going now, aren't we?"

Already knowing the answer, Spyro turned and took flight. He heard the flapping of wings behind him and knew that the others were following him to the castle.

He smiled for a moment, then the smile faded as he thought of the cruel way in which Cynder had been taken away from him. How the troll had punched her and knocked her unconscious. How Kaos had laughed and then insulted her and Spyro's love for her. And finally what the two strangers had said about her and the true kidnapper.

He was finally going to get her back, and he was finally going to be able to find out why the kidnapper had taken her in the first place.

He saw that Hex was flying next to him on his left. Sunburn and Sonic Boom were on the other side of him.

They flied for what seemed like hours, and soon the sun set. It was very dark when Whirlwind suddenly called out, "Can we please stop for the night? My wings are tired."

"Yeah, sure," Spyro called back to her. He looked for a place to land when he saw an island rise out of the darkness. He began to land when he saw the sun beginning to rise.

The sun's light illuminated the island like a beacon. He saw that the island had a castle on it and his heart skipped a beat. But then he saw that the castle was nothing but ruins.

What probably had been the walls now hung limply from the remaining rafters. He searched the ruins of the castle for a small black body. But no matter how much he looked, he saw nothing but broken pieces of stone and glass. Spyro wondered what in the world could have done this. It had to be something big, he knew that for sure.

Whirlwind and the others landed beside him. They stared in awe at the ruins of the castle.

Camo jumped down from Whirlwind's back. He also stared at the ruins of the castle. Spyro hung his head and knew that he was too late. Cynder was gone, and there was nothing that he could do about that.

Then he saw a glimmer of light in the corner of his eye. He looked to his left and saw a large portal open up. It was a swirling vortex that lead to where he knew not.

A tiny bit of hope flared up inside his heart. He motioned to the others. "Come on!" he urged. "I'm not sure if Cynder's gone yet! Let's go through that portal and see if we can find her!"

He swept up into the sky and dashed to the portal. He entered the portal and saw what he now thought was a never-ending vortex. Rocks flew past him from both ways. That was when he saw the ending of the portal. He flew faster. The sound of furiously flapping wings told him that the others were not very far behind. As he went through the end of the portal, he blinked his eyes in true amazement. He was somewhere that he never thought he'd see again.

He was in the mysterious realm known as Convexity.

Hope flared inside him more than ever, not knowing the reason why. But his hope died when he saw the purple beam. And then he realized what the beam was coming from.

It was an altar.


	20. Chapter 20: Worst Fears Realized

Chapter 20

Worst Fears Realized

Spyro stared in horror at the black stone of the altar. The purple beam was coming out of a portal-like thing. But Spyro knew what it was really called: the Convexus Portal.

The last time Spyro had fought Cynder, the Convexus Portal had been used like a battery, to charge Malefor so that he could fight better.

As long as the thing was standing, everyone here was in danger, as the portal could collapse at any moment, causing the entire realm itself to implode.

Spyro searched the altar for Cynder, but saw nothing. But he did see one thing: a purple creature was standing next to the Convexus Portal. Spyro wondered who or what this creature was, but also wondered whether it was dangerous or not.

Spyro decided to land on the portal, and as he did, the purple creature turned to him. Spyro's heart once again skipped a beat, this time in a very bad way.

The yellow eyes filled with malice gave everything away. The purple creature was Malefor.

The evil monster who had taken Cynder when she was an egg and corrupted her into doing his evil bidding. Spyro realized that Malefor was the one who had really kidnapped Cynder.

"Well, well, well," said Malefor in his deep baritone voice, which was hard to understand. "It seems that you have finally caught up to me. Congratulations."

"Malefor," Spyro said back, still in awe at the sight of the malignant purple dragon in front of him.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Hex stiffen as she saw the Dark Master.

Malefor looked over in her direction. "It's good to see you again, Hex. How long has it been? Ah, yes, it has been two years since our infamous battle down there in the Underworld. I still have the scars from that battle, you know. It seems that this a reunion between old friends. I wish that Cynder could be here to witness this."

"What have you done with her, Malefor?" Spyro asked him, an edge to his voice.

"She is safe, do not worry, Spyro," he told the young purple dragon. "I would never put young Cynder in a dangerous situation such as this."

"That never stopped you from corrupting her in the first place," Sunburn retorted.

Malefor turned his gaze to him. "I have heard of you, hybrid. You are one of the only known hybrids in existence. Yet I sense that there are three hybrids here on this altar. You, Whirlwind, and last, but most certainly not least, Camo." Camo and Whirlwind blinked when he said their names. "Didn't think that I knew what you're names were, did you? No, of course you didn't. I only know your names because of what my minions told me. They are what you call the strangers. I wonder where they are now. It doesn't matter. They will return to me soon enough." He turned his maleficent gaze back upon Spyro. "This is where it all ends, Spyro Nobody will help you now, young dragon."

Spyro shook his head. "What you should know is that the strangers are dead, Malefor," he explained to the Dark Master, who's eyes widened at hearing such a thing.

"You killed them?" Malefor queried.

"The Life element Skylander, Stealth Elf, killed the first one, while the other one, while fighting us, was eaten by the Leviathan," Spyro explained again.

"So you did kill him," said Malefor. "I never thought I'd see the day when Spyro the Dragon became a murderer." Malefor let out a deep laugh that sent chills up Spyro's spine.

"Where's Cynder?" Camo interrupted.

Malefor stopped laughing. "I won't ever tell you such a thing, Camo. You will just use such information against me. I'll just tell you that she is in very capable hands. Now, let's just get past that, as we have other matters to attend to. Spyro, I believe that you are mad at me for taking Cynder, but let me tell you, it was for the best."

"In what way?" Spyro retorted.

"She was being held in the worst place possible by you, not me. The Ruins was the worst place possible for her, because many of the Skylanders there do not trust her, as I believe. In the castle, she was safe from harm. At the Ruins, one of those who didn't like her could've snuck into your resting place and either badly injure or kill her. Such a place as that was, and still is, not a safe place for Cynder. You should've known that."

Spyro was in disbelief. Malefor, as he had always been, was wrong. Yes, many of the Skylanders did not trust Cynder, but none of them would've tried to kill her, Spyro would've made sure of that.

Cynder was safe at the Ruins, no matter what happened.

Suddenly Malefor swiped at Spyro, who saw it coming and dodged as quickly as he could. Malefor smiled as Spyro landed again.

"It seems that you have not lost your touch, Spyro," he acknowledged. "I just wanted make sure that you have not forgotten your training. If you had, then that would have been very bad." His gaze lingered, and then turned it back to Hex. "You must be wondering how I am still alive after our battle in the Underworld. Let me tell you, if it hadn't been for the strangers and Kaos, then I would have died of my wounds. The only reason why I am not that weak right now is because of this portal right here, the Convexus Portal. It is what gave me strength the last time we fought, Spyro. Are you surprised that it wasn't destroyed after our battle here three years ago?"

"Yes, I am," Spyro answered. "How is it still standing after that battle? This entire realm was about to implode after the battle was over."

"It seems that the realm began to fix itself after we left. The Convexus Portal was fixed along with it."

"But how is that even possible?" Spyro inquired. He could see Drobot peering at the large purple dragon in front of him.

"Who knows?" Malefor answered. "The world is full of may strange things, such as the Underworld, this realm, and even Cynder herself. One question we must ask ourselves is: Will these questions ever be answered? The answer to that is: Probably not. Some questions will never be answered. But some will never realize that. Some will just keep asking themselves those questions that must never be answered. But one question that many must answer: What do you fear the most?"

Spyro glared at the evil monster in front of him. He wanted so badly to just slaughter him right here, right now. To feel the raking of claws across the monster's flesh.

But he didn't want to betray his emotions to Malefor, as Malefor could use those emotions to manipulate his mind and corrupt him.

"I see that you're trying not to betray your emotions to me, Spyro, believing that I will manipulate your mind and then corrupt you," Malefor told Spyro.

"It could happen if I'm not careful," said Spyro.

"Yes, that could happen, now couldn't it?" Malefor asked them all.

"All I want right now is to find Cynder!" Spyro snarled. "Tell me where the heck she is, Malefor!"

"Why should I, Spyro? I have already told you that she is in very good hands, can't you just accept that? I guess not. After all, you're love for her has made you blind, especially since you've let yourself believe that she is safest in the Ruins. When will you come to your senses, Spyro? She was safe at the castle, but then I had to destroy it because nobody there was safe anymore. Many of the servants had to die in the explosion caused by my fire. I do not mourn them, though."

Spyro felt a sudden rumble beneath his paws. He looked around for the source of the disturbance, but found nothing.

Then it came again. There was still nothing that could have caused it. Spyro then realized that it could have come from behind the Convexus Portal. He decided to take a peek.

But as he moved that way, Malefor stopped him. "You will never find her, Spyro. She is lost forever."

Spyro snarled and lunged at Malefor. His claws raked across the large purple dragon's scales, causing blood to spurt out and drip onto the altar.

Hex formed a Phantom Orb in her hand. She aimed it at Malefor, but then had to focus because Spyro was still clinging onto Malefor.

She could not find a weak spot, no matter how hard she tried. She finally lowered her hand and the Phantom Orb fully disappeared.

"What are you waiting for, Hex?" Malefor taunted. "FINISH ME!" When he saw her look, he laughed. "HA HA HA HA! COWARD!"

Hex wanted to just kill Malefor once and for all, but with Spyro still on the malignant purple dragon, she couldn't throw a Phantom Orb, as she would risk hitting Spyro.

Spyro finally jumped off of Malefor and landed on the ground. From the battle the day before and just now, Spyro was truly exhausted. His legs were trembling. He knew that he would have to make this stop, as Malefor could use this to exploit a weakness in him and be able to corrupt him.

The taste of blood lingered in Spyro's mouth. He had and always would hate the taste of blood. He shot three fireballs at Malefor, who was able to dodge them all. Spyro hoped to find a weakness in the way Malefor moved, but so far, he found none.

The fireballs instead hit the Convexus Portal. Malefor roared in pain for a moment, then recovered. He shot a blast of dark fire at Spyro and the other Skylanders, who all dodged. Spyro could feel the heat of the raging torrent of flames.

Finally they ceased. Hex shot a Phantom Orb at Malefor, but Malefor once again evaded it. This time he shot ice from his mouth. Spyro responded with the same attack. Ice shards flew everywhere as the blasts collided. Spyro and everyone else shielded themselves.

Spyro heard the deep, evil laugh that he feared so much. "Spyro, you cannot dodge forever!" Malefor taunted. "This is where everything ends! Nothing here will be left but me and one other thing!"

"Would that one other thing be the Convexus Portal?" retorted Sunburn, taking flight.

"No, I have other means of rejuvinating myself besides the Convexus Portal. I mean the one who had and will obey my very commands!"

"And who the heck would this be, Malefor?" Whirlwind spat.

"I will not reveal their name, but their wings block the sun and their roar not only fills the skies with terror, but fills the world with terror!"

"ENOUGH OF THIS!" Spyro roared. "IT'S TIME WE END THIS! EVERYONE, HELP ME DESTROY THE CONVEXUS PORTAL! IT'S TIME THAT MALEFOR IS DEFEATED ONCE AND FOR ALL!"

He made his way to the Convexus Portal. Malefor did nothing to stop him this time. As Spyro neared the Convexus Portal, he said, "It's time I end this once and for all!"

Just as he reached the Convexus Portal, a large black dragon appeared out of nowhere.

"If only life were that easy, little one," the dragon snarled, the brisk, husky voice a female's.

Spyro looked up at the large black dragoness. "Oh no!" Spyro whispered, and then backed away.

The black dragoness was Cynder.


	21. Chapter 21: The Battle of Convexity

Chapter 21

The Battle of Convexity

Spyro was in horror at the sight of the black dragoness. He had been looking for her for so long, and now this was what he got.

Malefor had lied to him. Cynder was not in good hands at all. As long as she was under his control, she was a danger to everyone here, as well as the Convexus Portal.

Spyro felt as if his entire world was collapsing down all around him. Malefor was still alive, and Cynder was back under the Dark Master's control. Then Spyro remembered the dream Cynder had told him about the day she had gone missing.

The dream, he realized, had come true. She had said that they had both been in Convexity. Malefor had been there, too. But Cynder had not been on Spyro's side at the time. She had been on Malefor's side, in her corrupted form.

And now this was it. This was the dream itself.

Cynder lashed at Spyro with her tail, the blade on it aiming for the part of his chest with his heart.

Spyro jumped up and glided over to Hex. He leaned over to her and whispered, "Can you stop her from doing this at all, Hex?"

"Not without terribly injuring her, Spyro," Hex admitted. "And I know that you don't want that to happen."

Spyro sighed and nodded. He and Hex had to dodge as Cynder swiped a clawed foot at them both. She snarled and let loose a blast of dark fire at Sunburn and Sonic Boom. They were terrified at the fact that one of their best friends was now trying to kill them. Cynder shot more blasts of fire at them. Whirlwind came up and shot an arced blast of rainbow energy. Cynder acted as if she hadn't felt any pain and lashed her tail at Whirlwind. Whirlwind was unable to dodge in time and was hit across the face. Blood dripped from a scar on Whirlwind's cheek. She put a paw up to it to stop the bleeding.

Camo, not wanting to seriously hurt Cynder, shot a short blast of fire at her, but she was once again way too fast for him and she slapped him across the face with one of her paws. Camo went flying. When he landed, he went sliding to the edge. His body slipped off the altar. Whirlwind flew as fast as she could and was able to catch Camo just as he slipped off.

Drobot flew at Cynder, but before he could do anything, Cynder slammed him to the ground and knocked him unconscious. Cynder let out a roar of victory.

Spyro leapt at her, but just as he was about to land on her, she hit him in the face with the regular part of her tail. Spyro was able to recover in midair. He was horrified at how far Cynder was going to go in this battle. "Cynder, stop!" he yelled.

But she was not listening to him. She turned around to face Sonic Boom. They clashed head on, Cynder battling with tooth, claw, and fire, and Sonic Boom just with her claws.

Cynder rose up and released a blazing torrent of flames. Sonic Boom dodged out of the way just in time, but then was hit by a whack from Cynder's tail. Sonic Boom was hesitant to shoot any sound waves at her friend, but she would if she had to. Sunburn used his Phoenix Dash to get in front of Cynder as she swiped her paw at Sonic Boom. The claws hit Sunburn in the wing, leaving behind a long, deep gash that was barely visible in Sunburn's red feathers. Sunburn wanted to scream out in pain, but decided not to.

Malefor stood near the Convexus Portal, his eyes closed, his mouth moving as if he was performing a ritual. Spyro could tell that Malefor was getting his energy back, the Convexus Portal being the source of all his energy. If he could destroy the Convexus Portal, then Malefor would no longer have his energy and, hopefully, his hold on Cynder would be gone and she would return to normal. Spyro moved toward Malefor and the Convexus Portal, taking glances at Cynder and the other Skylanders battling her. Even though he was injured, Sunburn could fight well still. Cynder was easily dodging all of his and Sonic Boom's attacks, though. Malefor suddenly let out his evil laugh. The laugh sent shivers down Spyro's spine.

Spyro dashed at the portal and Malefor, his claws outstretched. The monster was unsuspecting an attack by the smaller purple dragon. Spyro launched himself at Malefor, and latched onto the Dark Master's neck. Spyro raked his claws across the malignant creature's neck and back.

Malefor screamed in pain. Suddenly, Spyro was shaken off and knocked to the ground. He looked up and saw Malefor's wounds heal themselves.

Spyro got up. He then heard a cry of pain. He turned around and saw Sonic Boom on the ground, her wing crumpled near her chest, blood pooling out around her.

Sunburn looked down at her, checking to see if she was alright. Cynder stood above them, laughing.

Sadness and rage boiled in Spyro's blood. Sadness because he wished that Cynder wasn't under the control of the Dark Master, and rage because of seeing Sonic Boom on the ground, injured.

Hex held up her hand, and threw a Phantom Orb at Cynder. It hit Cynder in the thigh, drawing a large amount of blood. Cynder roared in agony.

"Why you little piece of-" she began, but was then cut off by Malefor, who was growling.

"How dare you hit Cynder, Hex!" he rasped. "THIS IS WHERE YOUR LIFE TRULY ENDS, YOU WITCH!"

He reared up to attack Hex, but before he could do anything, Hex had already blasted him with a Phantom Orb in the chest. She then threw another one at the Convexus Portal, but that one missed. Malefor dropped to his knees. A steady stream of blood flowed from underneath Malefor. The Dark Master released what sounded like a whimper as he tried to get back up.

Cynder snarled again and leapt at Spyro, ready to end the puny purple dragon's life. Spyro dodged just in time, but was caught off guard when she opened her mouth and unleashed a storm of crackling dark electricity. He shielded himself with his wing. Spyro heard a large crack and looked down. Horror struck him as he saw that the altar was beginning to break apart underneath them. Cynder seemed to pay no attention to the danger they were in now.

It seemed that nothing could snap Cynder back to her original form. Spyro had hoped he could, but he realized that he could not.

Or maybe he could...

Spyro ran over to the Convexus Portal and began hitting it with his horns and with his elements. Fire, ice, earth, electricity... all of them. Malefor screamed in pain and the cries intensified as Spyro used more and more power on the Convexus Portal.

Spyro soon had to stop to catch his breath, and that gave Cynder the chance to dash forward and grab Spyro with her claws. She threw him at the edge of the altar. Spyro felt his own pain as he struggled to get up. He felt something wet and looked down. Cynder's claws had left three bloody scratch marks on his chest, allowing blood to flow freely. With much effort, Spyro was finally able to get to his feet. Sunburn hurried over to help him, then went back to defending Sonic Boom's unconscious body. Sonic Boom stirred feebly.

Spyro looked around and saw that the only person who could confront and defeat Cynder once and for all was him.

Drobot had been knocked unconscious, both Camo and Sonic Boom were injured and unconscious, Whirlwind and Sunburn were defending the unconscious bodies of their allies, and Hex had finally succumbed to the shock of seeing Cynder under the Dark Master's corruption.

"It seems that you are the last one left to fight me," Malefor drawled. "Why don't we just end this battle once and for all, eh?" A wry smile touched Malefor's lips before he lunged at Spyro. Spyro barely got out of the way in time. Malefor slid to the edge of the altar, then let out a blast of earth. A giant green boulder rolled at Spyro, who blasted the rock to pieces with his fire breath. Cynder blasted a torrent of dark flames at Spyro and then swiped at him with her claws, and finally lashed at him with her tail. The blade missed him by inches, and her claws came very close to slashing his chest again.

Tears formed in Spyro's eyes at the thought of having lost Cynder forever. He felt as if, without her, all his body was was an empty shell. With her, it would be whole.

Although he released many other fireballs, none of them were aimed at Cynder. They were all aimed at either Malefor or the Convexus Portal.

It now seemed that every time Spyro hit the Convexus Portal, Malefor was getting weaker and weaker at the moment. The Dark Master could not move out the way in time for most of Spyro's fireballs and was hit either in the chest or the flank. This was as easy as the battle was going to get, Spyro realized.

Suddenly Cynder snapped at Spyro with her jaws, a flaming maw of dark flames flickering visibly at the edge of her mouth.

She sent attack after attack after Spyro. Though none of them hit Spyro, he was tiring from dodging every attack there was. The Covexus Portal, Spyro realized, was powering Cynder up, too. Spyro knew that he had to destroy the Convexus Portal, or Cynder and Malefor would be too powerful for him to defeat.

Spyro stumbled as he dodged another attack, and fell to the ground. Malefor advanced on him, but before the Dark Master could do anything, a purple flash of light cut through the air and hit the Dark Master in the side. Malefor screamed in agony. Blood dripped from his wound profusely. Spyro turned around and saw Hex holding her hand up, apparently having been shaken out of her shock. A Phantom Orb was in her palm.

Spyro turned back around just in time to see Cynder try to hit him with her tail, but then she stopped in midblow. She shook her head and yelled out. But the yell was not that of Cynder's evil voice; in fact, it seemed to be more of her regular voice. Spyro realized that if Malefor was hit hard enough, the his control on Cynder would be lifted. A new plan came into mind. If this plan was able to work, then he would be able to get Cynder back to him.

Another streak of purple light filled the air and hit the Convexus Portal, causing one of the metal support beams that closed in the true part of the portal to crack. Malefor appeared to weaken right in front of Spyro and Cynder shook her head again and yelled out in pain once again.

"Keep doing it, Hex! Malefor is losing his hold on Cynder!" Spyro called to her. He turned around and saw her smiling once again. She was finally getting revenge on the monster she had fought back in the Underworld. Though she had won, the Dark Master had caused her much pain by forcing her to unwillingly join the ranks of the Undead.

Cynder released her loudest scream yet, and Spyro had to cover his ears as she did so. Cynder swayed for a moment and then looked right at Spyro with her piercing red eyes. Her eyes were red instead of blue.

Spyro still felt fear as he looked into her eyes, but now he knew that he was going to get Cynder back. He closed his eyes and drew upon all his energy and elements to release one final attack. He opened his eyes, rose up, and unleashed the true dragon within him. An orb the color of all the elements he possessed formed in front of him and flew right at Cynder. It hit her in the chest, causing her to fall on her back. Her eyes widened and then a bright white light filled everyone's field of vision. Spyro shielded his eyes with his wing.

He opened his eyes again as the bright light faded and looked around him. The Convexus Portal was destroyed, meaning that Malefor no longer had all that strength left in his body. Malefor lay on the ground near where the Convexus Portal had been.

Spyro looked around at the other Skylanders. All of them had been unharmed by his energy blast. Sunburn stared in amazement at his best friend.

Spyro shared a smile to himself, then braced himself as he felt a wave of tiredness washed over him.

Then Spyro looked for Cynder. He saw the large black dragoness lying on the ground. She opened her eyes and let out a gasp. A purple aura filled the air. Spyro could only stare in amazement as Cynder returned to normal. She was back to the small, beautiful dragoness she had always been. Spyro moved over towards her.

As he approached, she watched him with sorrow. He stopped right beside her, and bent down. She let out a cry and wrapped her arms around Spyro's neck. She then looked up at his face. She frowned at the scratches there. "Did I do that to you?" she asked.

"No, Cynder," he answered. "None of this was your fault." He looked over at Malefor's unmoving body. "It was Malefor's fault." He looked back down at her. "It was him all along, wasn't it?"

She nodded. "It was," she whimpered. Tears began flowing down her cheeks and she buried her face in Spyro's chest. He hugged her close as she cried. Cynder finally stopped, raised her head, and looked around at the strange realm. Then she saw the other Skylanders. By now, they were all recovering from the battle. Sonic Boom and Camo and Drobot had already woken up. They were all staring at Cynder and Spyro. Whirlwind, Hex, and Sunburn smiled at Spyro and gave the same smile to Cynder. Suddenly they heard a groan and Spyro and Cynder whirled around and, to their horror, saw Malefor stirring. The malignant dragon opened his yellow, pupil-less eyes and saw that Cynder was now back to normal. The Dark Master's lips curled in a grimace as he got up.

He stared at Cynder for a moment, then snarled, "ARGHH! SO BE IT! YOU'VE MADE YOUR CHOICE, AND SO YOU SHALL SUFFER THE SAME FATE, CYNDER! PREPARE TO DIE!"

But before Malefor could use any of his attacks, Spyro tried to use a bit of his fire breath to protect Cynder, but it seemed that the blast he had used to return her to normal caused him to lose every power he had. Malefor laughed, but then Cynder blasted the Dark Master in the chest. The intensity of the blast caused cracks to appear in Malefor, as if he was a piece of glass.

"NO!" Malefor roared. "THIS CANNOT BE HAPPENING! I AM SUPPOSED TO BE IMMORTAL!"

"It seems that you are never going to be immortal, Malefor," Spyro told his worst enemy.

"NOOOOO!" Malefor screeched. The cries intensified, but then another bright light filled the air and when it faded, Malefor was no more.

The Skylanders cheered, including Spyro. Cynder felt unexpected glee at the defeat of the evil dragon who had corrupted her as a hatchling and had corrupted her once more.

But their rejoicing was short-lived as they all felt a tremble beneath their paws. They all looked down and saw that the altar was finally beginning to split in half.

"Come on!" said Spyro. He looked at Cynder. "Can you fly?"

Cynder got to her feet and tried to jump into the air and open her wings, but one of her wings had been broken during her escape attempt, and one of her paws had been twisted, too, and as she jumped, she fell right back down to the ground. She looked up at Spyro.

"I don't think so," she admitted. "I think one of my wings are broken and so are one of my paws."

Spyro nodded and gently took her in his claws. "Let's go!" he called to the other Skylanders. Sonic Boom, with her broken wing, had to be carried in Sunburn's claws. Camo was on Whirlwind's back, his wounds the most severe out of all the Skylanders there.

Drobot was unharmed. Although he had been knocked unconscious, the parts of his body that had robotic machinery on them had protected him from being injured.

The seven of them raced to the portal that had brought them there (excluding Cynder) as the strange realm of Convexity collapsed behind them. As that end of the portal began to close, Spyro took one look back at the realm and hoped that he would never have to go there in his lifetime again.

They reached the beginning of the portal and went right out. Spyro decided to land on the island that had the destroyed castle. He let Cynder down. Cynder saw Sonic Boom and limped over to her best friend.

"How are you doing?" Sonic Boom asked, nuzzling Cynder gently.

"I'm doing okay, but I'm still shaken up over everything that just happened," Cynder answered honestly.

"I understand," Sonic Boom told her. "You just need some rest to get over all of this."

Cynder nodded and turned to Sunburn. He also gave her a gentle nuzzle. "I'm glad you're back," he told her. "We missed you a lot while you were gone."

"I can tell." Then Cynder saw Whirlwind and Camo coming towards her. Cynder felt guilt as she saw the scar on the side of Whirlwind's face. "I can see how Camo can trust me, since I saved him last year from being killed by Kaos, but I'm kind of wondering when you began trusting me, Whirlwind."

Whirlwind laughed a little. "I began to trust you after Spyro told me of your backstory," the unicorn-dragon hybrid said. She frowned at seeing Cynder's look. "You didn't want many people to know of that, did you?"

"No."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought that part up, especially after what happened just today."

"It's alright. I'm going to have to get used to it, that's all." As Cynder spoke, she saw one Skylander that hadn't greeted her: Drobot.

Cynder sighed and lay down to take the pain off her twisted paw. "I'm sorry," she said. "I think one of my paws are broken, and it hurts a lot, so I'm trying to take the weight off my paw."

"It's alright," Sunburn assured her. "Trust me, I think we're all going to want to rest before we go back to the Ruins." He laughed a little, then lay down next to her. So did Sonic Boom, Whirlwind, and Camo.

Spyro smiled at seeing that everybody had forgiven her, all except for Drobot. He would deal with Drobot later, but for now, he was going to enjoy the time he had with Cynder.

As night fell, Spyro settled down next to the dragoness he loved. She nuzzled up to him and put her head on his chest. Before she put her head on her paws so she could sleep, she took off the braces on her ankles because they had spikes on them. There were four: two on each of her front ankles and two on each of her back ankles. She also took off the choker on her neck, as it also had spikes on it.

Finally, she lay down and began to rest. As she slipped off to sleep, Spyro leaned down and whispered to Cynder, "I love you."

Spyro smiled to himself, knowing that Malefor was defeated for good and that Cynder was now safe from all the harm in the world.


	22. Chapter 22: Night at the Ruins

**Hey there. CynderFanForever here. Thank you for reading my first ever story. It was so fun to write. Now before I go to the big boring part of my acknowledgements, I want you to listen to a song at the end of the chapter. Look up Lifehouse's song "Everything" on Youtube. Listen to the song at the end only. You'll know the place where you should listen to it. Now, here's something that you may do. You may call me Sam if you wish. OK, now on to the thanks. I would like to thank the game itself for giving me the idea for this story. I would also like to thank TheNeonPinkZebra for giving me the first review (even if it was a little funny! :D lol) At last, I would like to thank all those who stayed with the story till the very end. Thank you. Btw, I will not make the next one, Skylanders: Sacrifice till the fall, as I will be working on The Legend of Spyro: Devil's Shadow. Once again, thank you.**

**"May the ancestors look after you. May they look after us all."**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 22<span>

Night at the Ruins

The next day, Spyro, Cynder and the others flew for as long as they could. The sun was high in the sky when the Ruins came into view.

When Spyro landed, a cheer went up from the Skylanders that had stayed behind. The cheering only rose when they saw that Cynder was back and was okay.

It was as if it was just another yearly celebration for the Skylanders, but the only difference was that Cynder was the main focus of the celebration.

During the celebration, Cali called Cynder and the other Skylanders who had been injured in the battle between them and Malefor to the healing tent. As Cali bandaged Cynder's twisted paw, she told the black dragoness, "It's good to have you back, Cynder. We really missed you."

"Thanks," Cynder responded.

When Cali indicated that she was done, Cynder jumped down from the bed she was on, she caught a glimpse of Slam Bam, a four-armed yeti who trusted Cynder the least of all the Skylanders. His yellow eyes didn't miss a single bit of movement that Cynder made. Cynder could tell that even though she had been kidnapped, he still would never put any trust towards her.

Cynder just smiled as she passed by, not caring whatever he thought about her. All that mattered right was that she was safe and that she was with Spyro, the dragon she loved.

Spyro came up to Cynder and gave her a loving nuzzle. "How do you feel?" he asked.

"I'm doing okay, but of course, I could be doing a heck of a lot better," Cynder answered.

"Yeah, I think we all could," Spyro said. He looked at Cynder. "You really are the most beautiful dragoness I have ever met, Cyn."

"You're the best dragon I've ever met, Spyro," she replied. They shared a kiss, but were broken up by a whistle. They turned around to see Trigger Happy and Gill Grunt standing near the Core of Light. "Okay, which one of you did the whistle?" laughed Cynder.

Both Trigg and Gill laughed again.

"Who was it?" pressed Spyro.

Trigg pointed to Gill, and Gill pointed to Trigg. Finally, Trigger Happy gave up and said, "It was me, Spyro."

All four of them laughed. Cynder felt better than she had in weeks. She was happy that Malefor was now defeated once and for all and she would no longer have to deal with the ultimate evil he represented.

She whispered to Spyro, "So what happened while I was away?" There was a note in her voice. But it was not a teasing voice. It was more of an anxious voice.

"Follow me," he whispered back. As they walked away, Cynder gave Trigger Happy and Gill Grunt a wink. Spyro led Cynder down the stairs that led to the beach, and then he stopped in front of the door that acted as the entrance to the Underworld. "If you're wondering what happened, then you should know that I went through a lot of trouble while trying to find you. The first place I went was Shattered Island, because, as you know, that was the first place we ever met. I also met two servants of Malefor there. I nicknamed them the strangers, as did the other Skylanders. Then me, Trigg, Gill, Sunburn, and Sonic Boom went down to the Underworld because the strangers told us that you might be down there. But it was a trick. When we went down there, Kaos was waiting. He and a monster known as the Person in Red. Me and Hex were able to defeat Kaos. But before I move on, Cyn, there's something that you should know: While I was fighting Kaos, I turned into Dark Spyro because he had made me so angry. If it hadn't been for Hex, then I would've still been like that." Cynder tried to speak, but Spyro went on. "After that, Sunburn, Sonic Boom, Trigg, and Gill confronted the Person in Red. Sonic Boom was injured, but Sunburn was able to incinerate the Person in Red.

"Luckily, Sonic Boom was able to recover. According to Kaos, the strangers were working for 'the dark figure', who we now know is Malefor. Was Malefor. So we decided to go to Leviathan Lagoon to see if we could pick up any clues about where you had been taken. As it turned out, the strangers were already there, about to start a siege on Leviathan Lagoon. During the battle, me, Sunburn, and Sonic Boom fought the strangers. The first stranger was killed by Cali, and the second was eaten by the Leviathan. Soon after, me and the Skylanders who were in the battle went to where the castle was, and when we saw that the castle was nothing but ruins, we thought you were dead. Then we saw the portal. When we went through it, I was so scared when I saw that it was Covexity..." Cynder cut him off there.

"It's alright, Spyro, you don't need to worry anymore. It's all over," she assured him.

He nodded and smiled at her. His amethyst eyes shone with tears. She too had something she wanted to say to Spyro, but she thought that now was not the time.

"Come on, let's go back and join the celebration," Cynder suggested. They walked up the stairs and rejoined the celebration. But right now, the emotion that Cynder felt the most was guilt, not happiness.

* * *

><p>It was night. Spyro opened his eyes and looked at the spot in the bed next to him where Cynder should be. But she was not there. Alarmed, Spyro shot up and flew out of his and Cynder's treehouse. When he landed, he looked around for a sign of the black dragoness. But he could not see her.<p>

A new decision formed in his mind. It was to go to the Core of Light to see if she was there.

When he arrived, he saw the beautiful dragoness sitting at the bottom of the Core. He went over to her and put a paw on her shoulder. She jumped, and then whirled around. When she saw that it was only Spyro, she relaxed.

"Oh, it's just you, Spyro," she said. "I thought you were someone else at first."

Spyro laughed a little, then asked, "What are you doing out here, Cynder?"

"I just don't feel so right, Spyro," she answered. She knew that she would now have to give up her secret.

"Go to Cali and Stealth Elf; I'm sure that they have something for that."

"It's not that, Spyro. I just have so much guilt in me right now."

"Why?"

"It's because-well, just before I was kidnapped after that battle here at the Ruins, I saw a large shadow fall over the water."

"Yeah, I did too."

"You don't get it. When I saw it, I was pretty sure that I knew that it was Malefor's shadow, as I had seen it so many times back when I was under his control. But I knew that I had to be crazy, as Hex had told me of her backstory, and after that, I thought him dead. I had my suspicions on who the dark figure was before I was corrupted again, but I just never knew if I was right." She began to cry. "I'm sorry, Spyro, I should've told you."

"What, Cyn?" asked Spyro. "That's not anything to be ashamed of. Why are you crying?"

"Because, if I had already known, then I could've warned everyone, but I was just so stupid that I let Malefor take me, and then I had to let you go through all you did to save me. I'm just so sorry!"

"Cynder, it's alright," Spyro comforted. "This was not your fault. Anybody could've made such a mistake as yours, Cynder, you know that."

"That's not all, Spyro," gasped Cynder, still crying. "You don't know how I feel now ever since you saved me. I feel that, when the sun comes up, reality will set in, and all I'll be is just a pawn in somebody else's plan! That I'll just be another obstacle in your path!"

Spyro pulled her close to him and hugged her. "Cynder," he whispered into her ear, "you'll never be a pawn in anybody's plan, because I just love you so much. I'll never let anything like this happen to you ever again."

She dried her tears and nuzzled up close to him.

Cynder whispered, "You know what, Spyro?"

"What?" asked Spyro.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Cynder, and that love will never end."

As the night came to an end, little did they know that the darkest hour had also come to an end and that a new age was beginning.

**End of book 1**


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